Future's Past
by Jai'byrd
Summary: A resolve for the cliffhanger ending of Mortal Kombat Conquest Rayden finds unexpected help to turn back time before Khan's attack, but is this new person a new ally or an enemy in disguise? After a long wait... Chapter 13 is now up!
1. Prologue

Mortal Kombat and all characters associated with it are property of Midway Inc.

Jai'eesh, Mr. S, Gaia, and all other characters created by me are my property and cannot be used without my express written consent. If you'd like to learn more about them and the races associated with them please visit my website:

And I'd like to thank everyone for bering with me since it takes so long for me to update. I'd like to especially thank GohanKiSon as he has become one of the major reasons I'm still writing this story. I hope you enjoy all the new updates as I've fixed many of the chapters that needed despirate help and added a prologue so people who haven't seen the last episode of MK: Conquest at least have an idea of what is going on here. Enjoy and remember to let me know what you think! I love feedback! =^.^=

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500 years ago the Realm of Earth fell to Outworld. Yet, there is no such memory of this event in the mind of man, no mention of it in any annals of history written or otherwise, but it did happen

_Shao Khan lounged on his huge throne pleased with how well his plans had come to fruition. However he couldn't dwell on that too long, the crowning moment was upon him soon as his now mortal brother was dragged into the throne room by two guards. He smiled as he saw Rayden, the former defender of the Realm of Earth, now just a beaten and defeated creature, just as pitiful as the mortals he once protected. The _dead_ mortals he once protected. The cruel smile spread even farther across his face as he reveled in the moment, remembering how he had engineered not only the deaths of all his immediate enemies, but also the fall of Earth Realm._

_Through his hidden base on Earth he had ensnared Rayden's own chosen warriors while at the same time he sent his trusted Shadow Priests to kill off his other enemies one by one. When Rayden came to the rescue of his own, he didn't know that he himself was falling neatly into a trap that would ultimately cause his own cherished mortal's deaths in the end. Especially when Khan knew that they would return to try and aid Rayden. Rayden was so easy to trick when enraged by their deaths, so much so he didn't even notice when Shao Khan secretly transported them both to Outworld when they were fighting. Khan let him win the fight, just so he could exhaust all his brother's powers in doing so._

Khan finally stood up and leisurely walked down off the dais the throne was on towards a small chest on a stand before him, as he knew was certainly going to enjoy this part.

"Lets see what gifts we have for our guest here," he paused as he opened the chest and pulled out a partial face mask that once belonged to Reptile, "One traitor; dead," he threw it down as if it sullied him by touching it.

Reaching back into the chest, he pulled out two more objects; Quan Chi's blades and Shang Tsung's vest, "Two sorcerers; dead," he grunted as he dropped them down beside Reptile's mask.

He quickly produced a long robe, formerly worn by the newly crowned Empress Vorpax, "One Queen; dead," he smirked as he discarded it.

He then pulled out a beautifully crafted war fan as an actually pang of regret touched him suddenly, but he continued on, "A daughter; dead," it too joined the pile at his feet though. 

Now he kept his demonic eyes on Rayden as he pulled out the next object, a dagger; "One bodyguard; dead,"

_A strange looking full finger ring, "One thief; dead,"_

The simple shirt of a monk, "One champion; dead!_"_

He threw the shirt at Rayden and watched his face crumple in anguish as he caught it, but Khan wasn't through with him yet as he relished the next few words he spoke. He had been waiting to say them for centuries.

"You will now bow to me!_"_

Of course Rayden just stared at him sullenly as one of the guards stepped forward and hit him in the back, making him fall over before Khan. Good enough for the time being, but he would have to teach his brother more manners in the future. The very idea pleased him so much as he started to laugh and laugh and laugh


	2. 1:1 Time flows like a river

"Nothing fades as fast as the future,

nothing clings like the past."

- Peter Gabriel

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Present Day:

_Laughter_

Jai'eesh's head whipped around suddenly, scarring the people sitting next to her as she thought she heard something or rather, someone laughing. She scanned the immediate area around her only to discover that her companion was just staring at her confused by her abrupt actions. 

"Jai? You okay?" Rusty asked quietly.

Jai stared at Rusty for a moment before answering. He looked like a young man in his late twenties, short red hair with blond tips and an amazingly well built body. They had known each other since high school and Jai'eesh counted him as one of her best friends, someone she'd lay her life down for and vice versa. Those blazing yellow eyes of his bore into her hazel brown ones.

"No, I'm fine Rusty. Just thought I heard something that's all," with having said that she took another look around the room she was in as Rusty turned back to reading one of his many mechanical journals spread around him.

Jai was sitting on top of a huge oak table; one of many that filled the cavernous Commons room as it was called. The room served as both a formal and informal dining hall, as one could smell food cooking from the huge kitchens that lined one side of the room. The stone walls were made of granite, smoothed and painstakingly carved with numerous scenes all over them, depicting anything from battle scenes to other historical moments. High above, hanging from the ceiling were dozens of colorful banners, each displaying what looked like family crests made up from cloth, leather, beads and even fur. At first glance this place could be mistaken for something out of a medieval castle, but if one took a closer look

None of the carvings on the wall had any humans in them, only monstrous humanoid animals walking around, also each one of the crests on the banners floating high above depicted some sort of monstrous animal figure. Of course, one would only notice that after they got over the fact that there were real, blood and flesh versions of these creatures walking, sitting, and eating in the huge room with Jai'eesh and Rusty. These weren't monsters though, far from it, they were all _Wyrecreatures_; a race with the ability to change from one animal form into a humanoid form at will. 

A group of _Wyrecats_, puma _Wyrecats_ to be exact, all sat in one corner of the room playing a card game while eating some meat jerky that was in a huge bowl in the middle of their game. Another larger group of _Wyrewolves_ sat more towards the kitchen area, drinking and quietly talking amongst themselves, occasionally a big belly laugh erupting from one of them from time to time. Other than that, the only other people in here besides Jai'eesh and Rusty, was the Bard's group up on stage in the front of the Commons. The Bard, a small albino _Wyrewolf_, had a few others with him up front as they were setting up for this evening's mealtime entertainment. However the Bard was staring at Jai now, obviously the only other person other than Rusty to notice what was going on with Jai. Jai smiled at him reassuringly when their eyes met, but the Bard took awhile to go back to what he was doing as he just in turn stared at her still concerned.

Jai turned around and tried to go back to what she was doing earlier herself, picking up her bead loom for she was in the middle of making a huge bead tapestry, but she found instead that her concentration had left her. The day started out as quite an uneventful one in the fake mountain base that the _Wyres_ that lived here called Shadow Mountain. It was raining when Jai got up this afternoon and the forecast she caught on the news the night before said it would be raining there for a couple of days at least. Rain usually put _Wyres_ in a somber mood, and Jai had decided to drag a fair chunk of her bead collection out and start on a new project in the Commons. Rusty had joined her later on during the day, and now the Commons was starting to fill up as it was nearing dinnertime, and no _Wyre_ would ever miss dinner. 

Jai's restlessness increased as she finally just stood up, jumped off the top of the table leaving behind all her beads and her project, and startling Rusty once more in the process. Before Rusty even had a chance to even get up and call out after her, Jai had already left the Commons and was now half way down one of the dozens of halls that made up Shadow Mountain. She let her feet lead the way, since they obviously knew where they were going even though she didn't. It wasn't long before Jai reached the very depths of Shadow Mountain, unfinished subbasement floors where not even electricity had been carried down to, let alone the newly dug tunnels even be made ready for people to safely travel through. Yet now she knew where she was going and why she was so restless. Gaia, the soul of the Earth itself was calling for her Avis and Jai'eesh had no choice but to come to her summons. Alone in complete darkness, Jai'eesh headed for the Earth Shrine.

The Earth Shrine was one of the four elemental shrines in Shadow Mountain that balanced the natural energy in the fake mountain, allowing the very few _Wyres_ that could use magic to learn in a stable environment. When the mountain base was first renovated by the Shadows, Jai had helped create the other three shrines; Air, Fire and Water, but to everyone's amazement, the Earth Shrine was already there and seemingly waiting for them. The shrine was nothing more than a large cave with stalagmites and stalactites covering the ceiling and the floor. The walls held quartz crystals growing in large clumps, all glowing with a soft light due to the cave being a place where ley-line energies converged for the entire valley. Naturally this place would be considered mysterious, but with the high amount of energy collected here it was downright otherworldly. Jai'eesh quickly advanced to the middle of the cave and instantly dropped into a kneeling position with her arms crossed over her chest. Her long red-brown hair caught up with her hasty actions as it fell around her upper body and obscured her face. She didn't have long to wait as the cave quickly took on new dimensions. She shivered uncontrollably as all the hairs on her body started to stand on end as the usually latent energy started to congeal. 

Gaia's true form was impossible for a mortal to behold, due to being such a large power; her consciousness spanned several dimensions. Hence, Gaia would "create" forms to let Jai'eesh know that she was in the shrine. The forms could range from a simple slivery mist, to a set of "eyes" where the pupils would be the Earth and the Moon respectively. Unlike her form, her voice was always the same: forceful, yet quiet.

When she was finally bidden to look up, she found herself not in the cave anymore, but kneeling in deep space. It almost threw her off balance, but the minute she instinctively grounded her energy she discovered she was still in the cave. The silvery mist was everywhere now, framing two orbs making them look like bodiless eyes. The orb's "pupils" were the Earth and the Moon. The minute Jai looked up and locked eyes with the Goddess's she found herself slowly falling asleep. This had never happened before, but her surprise quickly melted away as did her consciousness. The last thing she remembered was how heavy her eyelids felt. 

Through the haze of coming out of a deep sleep, she felt soft grass on her cheek and a slight breeze chilling her skin. As she woke up, she found herself looking to the side at a large gray cat that was also sleeping next to her. She slowly sat up and took in the surroundings around her. They were lying in a patch of soft moss and grass under a large, gnarled oak tree in the depths of an ancient forest. Then next thing she noticed was what she was wearing, since she remember only having her normal ripped jean shorts and white tank top on before she went in to see Gaia. Now she wore a version of the _Wyrewolverines'_ battle clothing, all consisting of black and gray leather but with woven bead trim that was Jai'eesh's trademark. She inspected her lace-up leather halter-top; the bead trim made up of wooden beads so they wouldn't give off a glare or make a sound. The beads were dyed dark earth colors and woven in patterns that would blend in with any surrounding. The lower half of her body was covered in leather leggings and a loincloth that tapered down to a point that was also trimmed with beads. Completing the ensemble were her knee high boots, made of sharkskin dyed black. She had the boots made long ago based off what she learned about sharkskin in a class once. Sharks have an odd arrangement of scales that if one runs their hand against it one way it would feel smooth, but feeling it against the scales, the skin on the person's hand would be ripped to shreds. Thus, if during a fight some one tried to grab her leg or block a kick, they'd be in for a rude surprise. 

She turned her head to see not only her traveling pack, but also her sheathed Nihon-to, and her old gray jean jacket covered in random patches lying on the ground beside her. Obviously Gaia was not without a sense of humor by sending one of her favorite piece of clothing with her. Jai got up and put her sword on along with the traveling pack around her waist and the jacket over her bare arms. Then she squatted next to the gray cat and scratched it on the head. The cat woke purring loudly and turned its large yellow-green eyes on her.

- _Hello Love, have a nice trip?_- an all too familiar mind-voice asked sweetly in Jai'eesh's head.

"Yeah, I was going to ask you S, where are we?"

Mr. S, Jai'eesh's bonded _Nightmare_ cat, got up on all fours and started to clean himself, _- Where's a good question, but it's more like when.-_

"When? You mean"

-_Yes, Gaia sent us on a mission back in time. Don't you remember her orders?_-

Suddenly a sharp pain shot through the right side of her brain as Jai'eesh nearly fell over as if someone shoved a nail through her head, luckily she caught herself on the oak tree. Mr. S was trying to say something, but she couldn't hear him, another, stronger mind voice prevailed. 

**-Jai'eesh, my bird. This is a memory I implanted inside your mind for you to remember when you reached you destination 500 years in the past. I had to implant these memories due to I cannot aid you at this time. 500 years ago there was a huge disturbance in the time line, one that threatens the future as you know it. To preserve your timeline you must help restore the natural line of events. The information within the implanted memories will let you know what you must do to correct it, however there are drawbacks. The memories were too large for your brain to handle all at once, thus the memories may come randomly and at unexpected intervals. Or the memories may never resurface at all. This all depends on how well your brain can process the information. **

-Your first objective is to find a piece of red crys-

"Ugh," Jai grunted as the pain subsided and Gaia's voice trailed off into nothingness. 

"Figures I lose it right when the instructions are being given."

-_Lose what? What happened? Are you okay?-_

"Gaia never told me what we're supposed to do here, she never told me anything, she just planted the instructions inside my mind for me to remember as we go along. After she told me this, the memory faded. It seems my mortal mind can't take all the info at once so I get it in snippets."

-_So now what?-_

"Not sure, she wanted us to find some piece of red crystal I think."

-_Red crystal? How the heck does this fit in with us stuck in the past?-_

"I don't know."

Jai took another look around the old forest again. Deep emerald green met her eyes, but something was off in this forest; there was no noise what so ever. No bird calls, no insects chirping, no nothing. It was deathly silent. Jai suddenly felt like something was watching her and when she looked up, the sky looked like it had gone mad. Mr. S looked up along with her only to see a sky ravaged by what looked like the Aura Borealis gone berserk. The sky was a sickly purple with black and gray clouds that looked like a blight against it as eerie lights flashed between them. There was no wind, yet the clouds rushed by as if a hurricane was coming. 

"Just a thought, but this is fucked up." Jai said in a deadly serious tone.

-_Amen_,- the _Nightmare_ cat quickly agreed.

"Gaia told me that something happened 500 years ago that disrupted the time line that we're used to."

_-Let me guess, we get to fix it?-_

"Yes, and who wants to bet that this has something to do with it."

_-Swell,-_ The cat said with quite a sarcastic tone to it.

Jai didn't answer as she took off running, with her bonded following right behind her.

Bioelectrical energy, chi, ki, magic, mana, whatever people called it, it flowed over the Earth in invisible rivers and streams called ley-lines. This was the energy that all living things produced during their life spans, as well as during their deaths. Normally, people that could use magic were sensitive to these power sources, but Jai was overly sensitive due to being bonded to Gaia. She could actually "feel" when something was hurting the Earth, as she was now. Whatever it was that was causing this part of the Earth so much distress was not to far from her position and was probably causing the insanity in the skies. As the duo ran, Jai let her mind clear as she let her sixth sense take over as she could now see the ley-lines that ran throughout not only the land, but in the trees and plants around her as well. They shimmered lightly in different colors overlaying her normal vision, and just from what color, or how thick the lines were she could tell if a plant was sick or healthy. The colors here weren't the normal colors for a healthy forest, which would have a light green-blue glow to her eyes. These ones had sickly, wan brown-yellow ley-lines as if something was draining all the life out of the forest. The ley-lines on the ground showed that a majority had their flows reversed from their normal routs by having a reddish tint to them as Jai followed them to find the source of the drain. 

Soon, the trees gave way to mountains, and a shear cliff made of white stone covered in withered, dying vines blocked them from going any further. Jai looked down to see that the forced ley-lines flowed not around the wall like they normally would, but they were being pulled into it. She put a hand on the stone and as soon as she did she jerked her hand back like she had been burnt. Through the wall she felt nothing what so ever. She should have felt the sickly energy run through the rock to its destination, but whoever did this had it well shielded so even she couldn't feel it. She looked down to see S rubbing on her leg, but he wasn't purring, all the hair on his back was standing on end as he looked off to the right further down the wall. She ran following the cliff face until she hit what seemed to be an area that was once an entrance. Boulders and rocks blocked it like a landslide had occurred, but Jai saw conflicting signs on the rocks like someone had tried to blast this way open once, yet there was no hole here, only solid rock

Jai'eesh reached down and picked up her Nightmare bonded as placed him on her shoulder as he wrapped himself around her neck and braced himself by digging his claws into the padded parts of her jean jacket. She instantly jumped on the nearest boulder and began climbing up it. Who ever destroyed the pass was trying to keep whatever was inside from getting out obviously, but the destruction provided Jai with an easier way inside than trying to climb the shear cliffs that surrounded the area. It took her a good half-hour to finally reach the top as the sun was setting in the distance. It gave her just enough light to see an entire city nestled on the other side of what was now a huge stone wall, not the cliffs as they had originally appeared to be. She stayed low to the ground and crept along the top of the cliff trying to find a secure spot to sit and take in the sight before her. Jai soon found a large crevice right before the cliff jutted up again. She dropped down into it, which did a good job of hiding her as well as giving her an excellent view of huge city.

She sat down to catch her breath and let S jump off her shoulders. He sat next to her as he too tried to take in the vastness of the hidden city. The huge stone wall encircled the expanse of the city until it hit the mountain range that the walls looked like they had originally come from. The city itself was right under the shadow of a mountain that looked like a jagged dagger trying to tear the sky open, and with the crazy weather swarming around this area, it looked like it was doing exactly that.

Just inside the walls, large expanses of forest and fields framed the city that looked like it was carved out of the same rock as the wall cliffs. From her position Jai could make out a four paved main roads defining four sections of the city, the biggest of which leading straight to the destroyed pass. They all led to the middle of the city where a large complex dwarfed all other buildings in the place. 

_-I'm willing to bet that that huge temple is where all this crap is originating from.-_ Jai mindspoke to her bonded.

She had switched to mental communication so that, no one patrolling the area would hear anything. Due to their bond, their mental conversations were on such an deep level that one would have to rip through their souls just even hear a whisper of what they were saying.

In the dying light, S had no problem making out the details of the city that his bonded couldn't see, -_This is nothing more than a well-built fort. Hidden perfectly in these impassable mountains, they make one heck of a defensive barrier. Plus only a small group of people can defend that pass against hundreds easily._-

_-I don't think this place was build primarily for defense Love. Look at the streets, if this is a hidden city, those main roads aren't big due to commerce like in other cities. Heck I'll bet you it isn't even near a trade route considering we didn't see any road except for deer paths on the way here. Those are for easily mobilizing an army. This place was built to launch an offensive without anyone finding out about it.-_

_-Who would do all this? And why out here in the middle of nowhere? That reminds me, where are we?-_

_-It would be a good thing to know. The more information, the better off we'd be for figuring out what the heck we're supposed to be doing here.-_

Jai opened her pack and took out a small silver orb. She threw it in the air as it stopped dead and it flew right back to her and just hovered there above her head. This was Narnia, part of a living computer composed of microscopic artificial cells that lived in spherical colonies as a single unit. Narnia's main body was back at Shadow Mountain controlling the automated side of the base. Smaller bodies could separate from the main and were used regularly on the Shadows' missions as recorders, translators, information databases, and communicators. 

"Narnia I want you to try and figure out where in the world we are," Jai whispered to the orb right beside her face. 

"We regret we cannot locate any global positioning satellites. Something may have happened to them." The orb answered back in a digitized female voice. 

"You can't find them because they haven't been invented yet. We're about 500 years in the past. Is there another way you can figure out where we might be?"

Narnia's silver "skin" rippled as it compiled the information Jai'eesh just gave it, "That is a possible explanation as to why the satellites are not there however improbable travel through time is. We must rise higher to see if the land matches any data we have of this time."

"Permission granted, but do not be seen."

The orb suddenly simmered then disappeared as the once silver exterior bent the light through it instead of refracting it off the surface. Jai and S didn't have to wait long as the orb reappeared in the same place like it had never moved at all. 

"I have found an old Tibetan map that correlates with this area in my database. The map dates to the time you have supplied as well, it is of the trade routes around the city called Zhu Zin. However the city we are looking on is not Zhu Zin, nor is the city anywhere on the map but this mountain range is. Does this help?"

"Yes it does, thank you." Jai muttered as she grabbed the orb and put it back into her pack.

_-Could you fill me in on what all that just meant?-_

_-Sorry S, yes I know where we are now. I was reading the latest_ National Geographic _earlier where they had just started excavating a huge city on the border of China. A group of archeologists just recently discovered the map and are using it to excavate the city. Some of the artifacts that were found there name the city as Zhu Zin. It's a really strange find since there's evidence of several different cultures mingling there. It must have been a huge trade city, and its located near a place called the Temple of Light.-_

_-So? I still don't see why someone would start a invasion here_.-

Jai pursed her lips in thought, _-Me neither, but I feel like I'm going to put the pieces together any moment now. It's all there, it's just not clicking for some reason.-_

_-Well, I was thinking while Narnia was telling us our location. That city's not big enough to house an invasion army of any size let alone feed one. So if one's coming, where is it coming from?-_

_-There's only one way to find out Love.-_

The cat shrugged and said nothing as he jumped up on Jai's shoulders and resumed the position around her neck. Jai climbed out of the crevice and she ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down judging the distance to the ground. She then turned and took a running start and jumped. 


	3. 1:2 Onto the Breech

Jai'eesh felt the adrenaline surge through her blood as she fell, spreading herself out to catch as much air as possible to slow herself down a bit. A rock outcropping was coming up fast as Jai tried to aim herself at the very edge, and clipped it with her feet jumping off, slowing herself down just a hair as she aimed herself at the fast upcoming tree-line of the forest surrounding the city. The minute she hit the trees, she grabbed the nearest branch and used her momentum to flip and aim herself at a stronger branch underneath the first. The minute she landed she heard a loud crack as she quickly clung to the side of the tree and slid around to another nearby branch and rested there. The branch she had broken should have held her weight, but it was completely dry and dead. She quickly scanned the forest around her in mage sight and found that nearly all the trees were dead, their energy being sucked away into the heart of the city. She heard another groan from the branch she was on and took off through the trees at break-neck speed so she would only be on a branch for half a second. It was safer to stay in the trees, no matter how dangerous it was to take one wrong step and go crashing to the forest floor more than forty feet away, since the ground could be covered in traps, guards, or in these circumstances who knew what else. 

Mr. S had taken the pause earlier to jump off her neck and scout ahead, and through their bond, she could "see" what he saw at the edges of her own mage-sight enhanced vision. Like all cats, he saw in black and white, but the depth was so clearly defined, he could see farther ahead than she ever could at night with her human eyes. Her mage-sight allowed her to see more of a "life-scape" than what S saw, the ley-lines and energy from the trees and plants that were still alive lit her way. However, in a dying forest such as this was, her mage-talent was directly connected with the Earth in total, making her not only see what was happening, but feel it too like it was being done to her own body. The stolen energy flowed along in sluggish and disgusting browns and yellows beneath her, as she felt hot bile rise in the back of her throat, her body becoming sick from just passing through. She did her best to push the sickening feeling away, focus on what she must do, but even the air itself felt like it was rotting and weighing her down. 

The city was getting bigger and bigger through the trees, walls made of the same white rock as the mountainous barrier that surrounded the area, but pulsating with the ugly yellow-brown stolen life energy. She noticed that the edges of her vision, the sight was not one of the tree limbs anymore, but of the ground in a thicket next to the walls of the diseased city. Her bonded _Nightmare_ wasn't too far ahead of her, and the way he kept scanning the area, he saw no guards in the area. When she finally reached his position, she lowered herself quickly and quietly to the ground without breaking a branch, which when she looked back to the tree, she noticed it was withered to the point of almost being snapped if a stiff wind blew. She had landed right next to S in the thicket, which was nothing more than a collection of dead bushes that didn't give much cover, but some was better than none. Sitting back on her heels and placing a hand on her sword, a mere thought towards the city gates signaled S to go ahead, his silver coat nearly invisible in the darkness of area. 

He ran ahead, blending in easily with the shadows the huge stone buildings made against the insanely lit sky. He could feel Jai in his mind, watching through his eyes, and feeling her emotions as clear as a bell. She was nervous, chewing her lip again like she always did, but she was nervous more for him than for herself or the situation. He tried to send a reassuring feeling back to her, but he couldn't even muster one himself in a place like this. Suddenly he stopped, picking up on a faint sound, almost like a low humming. No, it wasn't humming. Nearly plastering himself to a low wall that framed one side of a huge street, he advanced cautiously as if he was stalking prey. After a few more feet he stopped dead, stunned by the sight that lay before him. He just sat there in the shadows dumbfounded, not even feeling his bonded move from her position to where he was until she scratched him on the head to wake him up from his stupor. He got up and rubbed himself against her leg for comfort. He looked back and still couldn't believe his yellow-green eyes.

There, not more than a few feet away was a beginning of a sea of humans, ranging from to the very young to the very old all prostrated on their stomachs towards the middle of the city. As if that sight wasn't enough, they were all emitting low moaning sounds like some deranged mantra. It was enough to make all the hair on his back stand on end, as he felt Jai's hair rise slightly on the back of her neck as if it was his own. 

He shuddered and looked up at Jai, who was extremely focused on the sight trying to puzzle it out no doubt, -_There isn't even a single guard anywhere_.-

The minute he had mind-spoke the last word all his senses went off in alarm as he felt something watching them. Jai felt it too as she grabbed the cat and ducked into an alleyway that was right behind them and then peered around the edge of the corner to see what it was. The invisible gaze swept right past them, searching, but not pinpointing anything. He swore he felt confusion, but it could be coming from Jai or himself in actuality. He wasn't going to risk mind-speaking her again for the moment. The "gaze" or what felt like one swept by again, and this time he could actually feel the energy signature, it was just like his! Emitting a low hiss, he knew only one kind of creature that could produce that kind of energy and it had to be undead. True, he was undead as well a _Nightmare_ was nothing more than a soul brought back across the brink by the power of love, thus forming a nearly unbreakable bond between the living bonder and the undead bondee. Whatever was looking for them was defiantly undead, Jai's thoughts confirmed it, but it was different than he, a full 180 from what he was. Then the sinking realization hit him. Just as he could sense them, only vaguely now, they (there was defiantly more than one now) could sense him as well. He struggled out of Jai's grasp and took his own look around the corner only to see two humanoid shadows wading through the prostrated people approaching their position. 

Jai slowly stood up, still watching them from the corner of her eye, "No point in hiding now, they know we're here."

S rarely spoke aloud, he could but didn't like the sound of his voice compared to his mind-voice, "They don't know ourrr exact position though, it would be wiserrr to surrrprrrise them," he said in a whisper and cursed himself for drawing out his r's again. 

Jai shook her head and jerked her head in the direction further down the alleyway. He turned his attention there and could feel another pair of the undead what-ever-they-were nearing the entrance to the other end of the alleyway. He saw Jai shrug and followed her out into the open like they were taking a Sunday stroll, he was in agreement that fighting in the open was better than fighting in that cramped side street, and at least they already knew the other pair was coming. The two figures stopped the minute they saw the duo enter the street, and just watched the odd pair approach them. The undead creatures were clearly once human in form, but they were covered from head to foot in flowing back robes, not one spot on them uncovered. Their auras clearly visible to his own undead eyes, was a sickly hue of dark browns and blues. They were not your average undead, of course saying undead were average was an oxymoron in itself. 

The one to the right of the pair tilted it's head in a very unnatural way as a mind-voice brushed the duo's minds that almost made them flinch, -_WHY DO YOU COME TO THIS PLACE_.- it demanded in a soul shuddering voice.

Jai'eesh didn't answer, she didn't need to as she rested her left palm on top of the hilt of her sword. She let her body relax, as much as it could in a place where it felt like you were dying right along with it, and just lazily scanned the two creatures before her. They were powerful, she knew that and she was willing to bet that they had some equally powerful tricks up their sleeve. Whoever made these things did a good job, but they had one flaw. They were undead. She smiled slightly. 

They needed no further hint, -_ARE YOU THAT EAGER TO DIE?-_ and the abruptly started laughing.

Their laughter sounded like amplified fingernails on a black board with bad reverb thrown in. It was either meant to freak out their enemies, or they just really found fighting funny. Jai ignored it and watched them circle S and she warily. She was always told to strike quick and leave the opponent stunned which would give you the advantage, but she wanted to hang back with these things, something told her she wanted to watch what they could do before they saw what she was capable of. 

She suddenly felt something grab her from behind as she saw three more of the creatures appear including the one holding her in a bear hug. The one that had been speaking to her rushed in for an attack as Jai quickly dropped her center of weight which loosened the thing's hold on her just enough for her to maneuver into it's own center of gravity. She then jabbed it hard with her elbows in what should have been its ribs, but the blow was only a diversionary tactic to get to her sword in time to draw it and run it straight through the on coming one. It stopped dead, the other too, giving her just enough time to withdraw the sword and slice through the midsection of the one holding her. Instantly, everything got deathly quite as the undead quit laughing and the prostrated city dwellers actually stopped moaning and looked up at the battle. 

Her two previous attackers both dropped to their knees, and then started screaming and thrashing violently as they started to dissipate like ash in wind. When the people around them saw this, they instantly were on their feet, screaming and running away from the scene as fast as they possibly could. The mass mob was the perfect distraction that a huge humanoid cat-creature took to attack the one coming in on her left, taking it out in one fell pounce, while she quickly side-stepped as a spear when whistling by where she had been. The undead with the spear quickly danced out of her sword's reach, only to find the huge cat-creature right behind it. It quickly thrust the spear where the cat-creature was, only to find it had instead skewered the other undead that was apparently trying to attack the cat-creature from the other side killing it. It too died like the others when Jai's blade sliced the undead's head cleanly off. Jai then whirled around in a circle coming back to back with the cat-creature studying the area for any more attackers. 

-_They're still around, but they're not attacking_,- Mr. S said as he let himself melt back into his normal house-cat size, -_Seems they don't like playing with us_.-

"They don't like being the prey when they're used to being the unstoppable hunters." Jai muttered as she slid her blade back in its scabbard, "'Common, we'd better use this to our advantage and get to the portal before they decide they'd like to try their luck again."

-_What did you just say?-_

"I said we need to get outta here and reach the portal to Out- What the hell?" Jai's face screwed into a mask of confusion.

-_Must be some more of Gaia's orders are resurfacing in your memory_.-

Jai again became agitated due to the fact she did not one, like the fact she was running blind in a dangerous situation and two, her only source of information was coming to her when she least expected it. If it came to her even a hair to late, it could mean her life. Shoving the thought aside to be pondered upon later when things weren't trying to kill her she took off down the now empty street towards the large temple. Bile once again rose in her mouth, the sides of her tongue tingling in objection as her body re-doubled its efforts in emptying her stomach as they neared the source of the coalescing energy. Jai still felt like she was being watched, as all her senses were gathering in information that conflicted with each other. She saw nothing, yet heard moaning reverberating off the alley walls that connected with the main street. Her nose was assaulted with scents of fear, pain, and anguish as well as the most unexpected scents of pleasure and ecstasy. The air tasted of oil with bile mixed in. This place was insane to say the least!

They finally reached the giant plaza that surrounded the temple. The place was bathed in an odd twilight, making it easy for Jai to make out the details of the plaza and the temple. The plaza was paved in stones fitted so well together that she doubted she could even get a razor between where the rocks met. She had heard of only one other place in the world that had this kind a paving and it was half a world away in the mountains of South America. The temple ahead was just as confusing in its architecture as the plaza, the thing look like it was a carbon copy of Athena's Temple in Greece. Yet instead of a triangular top, it was flat with mosaics of demons and other monsters around the edge done in more of a Syrian style. In front of the complex was a very strange altar, adorned by a huge golden skull. She couldn't see inside the temple, but then she really didn't need to because he destination was right on the temple's front steps.

There a literal rip in time and space sat, looking very much like someone tore air open like ripping a page out of a book. The edges glowed in a sickly hue; yellow-greens and browns swirled about like it was a festering wound. It was about four times the size of a person across and at least ten feet tall and still growing from the rate at which it was pulling in the stolen life energy from miles around. Jai cautiously approached the singularity as S jumped up on her shoulder.

-_They're still here, but they won't move in on us_.- S said as he looked slowly around the deathly still plaza.

Jai's attention switched to where her bonded was looking, through their linked vision she could "see" the rest of the plaza as S looked around it. She was all to aware of the sense of being "watched," but the sensation doubled as she joined her sixth sense in with the _Nightmare_ cat's. They – the undead creatures like the ones they had faced earlier were everywhere, watching the pair intently. Just as S said, they stayed still, maintaining their view, but not daring to get any closer.

-_It's you and my sword. I think they don't know what to make of us. We're not their everyday kind of prey_.-

The view at the edge of her vision dimmed as S narrowed his eyes, -_It seems they've never encountered a soul-blade or a _Nightmare_ before. Or, they're waiting for something_.-

-_We'd better get moving before they try to attack again. There's enough to overwhelm us, but I'd rather not give them the chance_.-

-_Onto the breech?- _S asked.

Jai'eesh nodded grimly and walked straight into the sickening blackness of the rift.


	4. 1:3 A Dangerous Mind

"Take him to his new quarters. Let him contemplate his future in more comfortable surroundings," Shao Khan announced, satisfaction brimming in his voice.

He watched as four of his Shadow Priests carted off his utterly defeated brother, Rayden. Just as the group reached the doorway to his throne room he noticed his brother shooting him a silent look of reserved defiance, as if to say, "This isn't over yet Khan." Khan just smiled back at him, in too good of a mood right now to be even slightly phased by that rude look. He would just have to remind himself to beat the living daylights out of him for an extra hour later. After watching them leave the Ruler of Outworld retired to his immense throne made entirely of the old weapons and skulls of his fallen enemies. He wished he could add his brother's skull to the pinnacle to his throne, but right now he was having far too much fun watching him squirm. He couldn't wait for Rayden to try and contact the Elder Gods, as he knew he would. He wished he could be there to see his face as he kept hitting that block he had the Shadow Priests put around the entire Tower so none of his prayers would ever reach the Elders' ears. 

Even though it was quite a reassuring thought to have his brother out of the way, it was only a small victory in this war of his. The Elders could just as easily stop him in his tracks if they got word of what was going on, but hopefully he had already set things into motion that would nullify even that worry. Plus it helped that he had inside info on the doings of the Elder Gods, and right now they were distracted with some other disaster elsewhere in the universe. His forces were just about ready to go through the portal he had so carefully created in Earth Realm, ready to take over the blue jewel and deliver it into Outworld for him. After that, the Elders could do nothing-

Suddenly he felt something snap in the back of his mind, as he sat upright in alarm trying to figure out what the hell it was. There in the ever-expanding mind-net of creatures he controlled he felt a rising buzz of activity. It was his Shadow Priests, souls brought back from death with all the powers of the Ethereal still attached to them, buzzing like a nest of upset bees. They were his greatest tool, each an extension of his own poisoned soul, thinking as one mind that he alone controlled. He dove into that mind only to find a very small fraction of it missing. That wasn't possible, it couldn't be gone, that would mean something actually destroyed a Shadow Priests. Yet it was not only possible, it was reality as not one, but _five_ Shadow Priests had been destroyed in combat. What could destroy something that was already undead? 

He was answered just as abruptly as his portal to Earth Realm suddenly snapped open right in his throne room. He had changed the destination in Outworld to his throne room earlier so he could drag Rayden there and he hadn't put the entrance back to where his armies were waiting. It was obviously a good thing he mused as he stood to greet whomever came through the portal's entrance, he was actually kind of interested in meeting the person who could kill something that's undead. They could kill a Shadow-priest maybe, but withstand a God's wrath? He severely doubted it. 

He stood there for several minutes waiting, but nothing came through, yet the portal's opening remained. It didn't make sense, you can't get lost in a portal, its essentially a straight tube. Did the fool turn back after making it this far? Wouldn't that be ironic, he laughed to himself. Yet something nagged at him, if some one had left the portal via the opening in Earth Realm, the portal would have already collapsed by now on this side. Finally his curiosity got the better of him as Shao Khan plunged into the portal's opening himself.

He knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he still had the advantage being that is was his portal. He walked on, not in any rush, but still impatient to see what the hell was going on he came upon the area he had fought his brother in. A stroke of pure genius to lure his already enraged brother away from his only power source and drain him fighting Khan. Now it seemed all too easy, but before he had serious doubts his brother would even do such a dumb thing. He grinned, lucky him. He looked around, the place was dark and misty, but strange illumination came from everywhere and nowhere at once so one wasn't completely running blind in the tunnel. However there wasn't a soul in here, as he discovered stretching out his senses to the max trying to locate anything in here with him. He started to seriously consider that either a ghost had come to call or that the portal was malfunctioning in some way, the later the more likely of the two. But then a strange flickering of raw power caught his eye in the side of the portal's tunnel.

There he found the most curious sight, a second portal opening torn in the side of his portal's wall. As he looked at it he found it wasn't torn, but woven from the original portal's own threads of power that kept it running. Each so delicately twisted to drain enough power away from the main portal to form the secondary portal, yet without it disturbing anything as if it was nothing more than a continuation of the original. There was no doubt in his mind now that whoever had destroyed his Shadow-priests had also done this piece of incredible work. They were obviously used to working with very fine weaves of magic with very little power, so much so that it could escape the notice of a God when cast. More than ever he wanted to meet this individual, either to make a deal with them, or just ring the information of how they'd learned to do such a thing. Either way, it was shaping up to be a very interesting day. 

Now it was time to play the hunter, as he dove in the second portal opening and when he reached the other end he found himself right back where he started, almost. He stood on a low hill overlooking the huge plaza underneath the Black Tower. Here he was hidden in the shadows of a ruined temple's pillars, but it was still quite a visible spot as he saw an entire legion of Centaurs that were practicing in the plaza below. Khan was starting to loose respect for this individual as who would be dumb enough to open a portal right in front of his armies. Plus, he reflected, leaving the portal up and running for him to follow was a dumb mistake too. He stood there for a moment more, oddly enough not a one of the Centaurs noticed him up on the hill. Obviously he'd have to make a surprise visit and berate them for being so unobservant.

Right as he was about to walk down there, the strangest feeling swept over him, one he hadn't felt in millennia. It was as if a predator bigger than he were watching him, ready to pounce. He whipped around, only to find the portal's opening behind him and nothing else but the dead husk of the temple ruins. He looked all around several times, but he finally looked up at another intriguing site in the skies above. A long time ago when he had first started conquering Realms, he noticed that just the sight of stars gave the people he conquered hope, which was the one thing, he didn't want them to have. It was odd to him that burning balls of gas light-years away could give people the will to rebel, but so be it and ever since there has been no stars seen in the skies of Outworld as he burned the skies to complete darkness. Yet there in one small space of the sky, there were stars to be seen. 

Or at least they looked like stars, but before he had time to even speculate about how they got there, the star field started moving towards the Centaur legion in the plaza. 

Khan slowly backed up further into the shadows of the old temple, not to hide, but to merely watch what was about to take place. He had no interest in warning his warriors before him, if they couldn't handle the unexpected then what use were they to him anyway? He followed the eerie sight of the moving star field until it was right above the legion and it started to circle lazily. However the lazy momentum of the stars quickly dissipated as the stars turned into a bright silver streak and shot toward one of the Centaurs like a bullet. The next thing he knew, or rather, heard was a loud crack as the silver streak connected with a one of the Centaurs, breaking it's spine in one blow. The rest of the legion finally noticed what had been stalking them and were immediately on the attack. He saw a vague cat-like shape as big as a Centaur itself, dodge and evade the onslaught, ever so nimble and by the time it had launched itself back into the air two more of the Centaurs were dead in it's wake. 

This time the legion's commander had the remaining Centaurs form up, but it was useless against an aerial attacker for they had no weapons to hurl at it, or any ground cover to help protect them. The attacking creature rolled, and for the first time he noticed that the silver specks weren't stars, but markings on the creature's plumage. He could still only make out its basic shape, not any details, but the image made a very old memory resurface 

It struck again in a silver streak, but this time it went back up in the air carrying it's latest victim with it, which just happened to be the legion's commander. His screaming and caterwauling was suddenly cut short by the sound of something very sharp slicing through bone. When the head and body of the commander fell back to the ground, the legion was already running helter-skelter desperate for any cover they could find. From then on it was easy pickings for the mysterious black and silver creature, sometimes it would run the Centaurs down like a cheetah would an antelope tearing into the hindquarters of it's prey as the Centaur fell beneath only to find his jugular ripped out. Sometimes its prey would surprise it by attacking rather than running, but it countered the attacker's moves quite effectively with it's huge wings and long silver talons. Then it would escape back into the sky, picking them off randomly until every Centaur in the area was nothing more than a lifeless mound of torn flesh.

As it came in for a landing for the last time, Khan finally got a decent look at the monster creature. It raised it's wings just enough to uncover the rest of it's body, revealing the sleek body of a cat with the aerodynamic head and front legs of a bird of prey. It shook its long hairy mane and head, trying to rid itself of all the blood that had accumulated on its body from the fight. Then as its wings settled down on its back, it raised its huge head and stared at him dead on, two glowing red eyes meeting his own demonic ones. Khan shook himself out of his stupor from realizing what the creature was; something that everyone had thought extinct for thousands of years was now here right before him staring him down. Disbelief melted away revealing his strength, the eternal cold rage he felt in his very core. If the creature wanted a fight, it would certainly get one and Khan didn't care if he would make it an extinct species again. He strolled out of the shadows and let his powers visibly manifest around him showing his great displeasure for having the gall to attack his own base of power.

The creature just stood there, unimpressed with the display as it readied itself to fight as well. Yet right before it was about to launch itself at the dark God, it jerked its head up, ear-tuffs thrust forward as if something had called to it. It backed up a step, growled, and looked back to Khan. However, whoever was calling it was persistent as it finally subsided and moved to launch itself back up into the dead skies.

"I don't think so." Khan spat as he teleported, so he could cut off the creature's retreat. 

However he was too late, for when he reappeared in the exact spot the creature had been it was gone. He threw his senses open to try and ascertain where the thing had gotten to, but found nothing. Like it had been nothing more than an illusion, but there was more to it than that he knew, and whoever it was that had control of that creature was here. Rage consumed him, but he just let it burn inside him, he did not need this on the eve of his greatest takeover yet. Who was this new enemy and what was he after? He had thought he killed all those who opposed him. Pushing the thought aside, he knew those questions could be answered later as right now he needed to find this person and stop them before he damaged Khan's plans or worse


	5. 1:4 Down

The Griffin just sat there, perched high above in a nook of the Black Tower that hid the huge creature perfectly and watched the angry God below. The sleek creature made no move to confront the God, just to watch, like a cat would impassively watch future prey right before it decided to even attempt to hunt it. _Now is not the time to strike,_ a faint thought whispered in her mind, but the Griffin only seemed to shake it's right ear-tuff like the thought was a mosquito buzzing about. For the moment the Griffin agreed with the idea, she could not confront the demon down there now, somehow the Griffin knew it would be a battle soon lost. However when the right moment would present itself

_-Jai'eesh-_ Another faint whisper in the Griffin's mind got the same response as the stray thought did, a wiggling of her right ear-tuff.

_-Jai'eesh Jai'eesh My love Jai'eesh!-_ The voice kept getting louder and louder as the Griffin became agitated and looked around for something to swat at to make the voice stop.

The Griffin left her shadowy crag as she first checked below to make sure the God was gone, and he was - probably to hunt her, but the Griffin could care less right now. With silver retractable talons, and powerful hind claws she made her way up to large enough window that she could fit into and went inside the Tower. Normally her sleek black body would blend perfectly in with the shadows, but if someone happened upon the scene, she would be all too visible since a creature the size if a large horse would be a tad hard to miss. The Griffin's thoughts suddenly turned to going back outside, because there was no way to fight in a room as small as this, as she couldn't even open her huge wings very far! As soon as she turned back to the window she stopped.

_-Jai'eesh you can't go back outside, we need something from in here first!-_ There, a silvery-gray cat sat in the windowsill blocking the Griffin's egress. 

The Griffin growled and swatted at the cat, but the cat nimbly avoided the clumsy gesture with a back flip and landed in the same place it had been, _-Jai'eesh,-_ The mind-voice got louder again, _-You need to wake up from this blood rage, before we get caught!-_

This time the Griffin answered in a low growl, "No!"

Now something felt like it grabbed the Griffin's head, no her brain, as the cat's mind-voice resonated with all it's strength in her mind, _-JAI'EESH! WAKE UP!-_

There was a sound of a loud _SNAP_, not physically audible, but in the Griffin's mind it was deafening. The Griffin felt hazy for a moment, as conscious thought was once again regaining its hold on the Griffin's mind.

_-My God, what happened? No wait, I remember-_ She mind spoke as the Griffin's body suddenly trembled from weariness and lied down. 

_-Blood rage. Damn near impossible for me to wake you up sometimes, Maude is so much better than I at doing that,-_ S answered back after leaping down from the window and rubbing up against Jai'eesh hulking mass purring.

_-It's a good thing you could do it, I was just about to go back outside and kill some more. Or eat. Yech, and those things don't look like good eating.-o:p/o:p_

_-Half the crap you eat isn't considered good eating.-_ the _Nightmare_-cat retorted. 

The Griffin just grunted, getting back up on all fours again, making the cat leaning on her fall down abruptly in the process. As soon as she got back up again her body began to quiver a second time, but this time it wasn't from fatigue. A moment later a young woman with long red-brown hair, dressed in black leather and a gray jean jacket stood back up. She stretched out lazily and started to rub a couple spots in the small of her back while she looked back down at the gray cat.

"Ya know, aging sucks. Especially when you're a Wyre," She muttered arching an eyebrow.

_-Try being dead sometime.-_ S just arched an eyebrow right back at her, _-So what now?-_

"Good question," Jai'eesh whispered. "I think it's time to consult the ball."

The undead cat groaned at the bad joke as Jai rummaged around in her pack for Narnia, pulled the microcomputer out, and threw it in the air. The small silvery ball stopped dead and just hovered there, silvery skin rippling as it processed its new surroundings.

"Narnia, do you think you can help me find a piece of red crystal?"

The ball rotated for a second before it answered, "No, unless the object in question emits a detectable energy field. We can scan for that."

Jai nodded, "Do so. You may go outside and scan the entire Tower. A map of this place would be nice, and as I probably don't need to remind you, do not be seen." 

With the orders in place, the ball disappeared as S spoke up, _-Hey Jai, those undead things we fought before? They're still here. I can feel them, but they seem to be preoccupied with something else to notice me. They're all over the damn place, them and some other things I can't identify. We'd better get out of view.-_

Jai nodded as she picked up the cat, went over to the first shadow cast by a nearby torch and walked straight into it. There, Jai'eesh and Mr. S were both literally inside the wall able to see outside, but not visible to someone who stood on the other side of the shadowed wall. This technique of shadow walking had given her group, the Shadows of Gaia, their name long, long ago. As long as there was a shadow cast by a light source, she and her people could manipulate it into doing nearly anything they wanted, including standing inside a solid wall. There were other shadow techniques, some for fighting, some for transportation, and others that were just not talked about. 

However, over the years some of the lesser techniques had leaked out of the group and learned by humans, one of which ended up on the silver screen thanks to some twit named Johnny Cage. When his movies originally came out, the members of the Shadows were of course shocked and outraged, and it had taken everything in Jai's power to keep a lid on some hotheaded Wyre from killing the stupid Human. Gaia only knows how worse the situation would have gotten from a resulting investigation into his murder. As luck would have it, Humans themselves fixed the situation by not even believing the technique was real! Half the ones she had talked to then believed it was nothing more than special effects, which of course the Shadows secretly added hype to enhance the belief via the media. 

Jai made a face at the thought, _Sad we had to kill such a wonderful martial artist's career, but we don't want anyone trying to trace where the moron learned the technique back to us. And if I ever found out who taught him that in the first place, or who taught the teacher, I'm gonna-_

_-Jai, Narnia's back.-_ S stated matter of factly, he could hear her thoughts, but wasn't inclined on interrupting at the moment. He knew better.

Jai stuck her head out of the shadow just for a second and grabbed the small silver ball as it hovered next to the wall, already knowing where Jai'eesh was. Jai released it again as it started to report.

"There are many sources of energy output in the Tower," Narnia stated as it projected and entire 3-D model of the Black Tower showing floors and rooms within like a detailed X-ray. 

"Some high level energy sources interfered with our scan, as we could not get a complete scan of this structure."

Jai'eesh dropped effortlessly into sitting Indian-style on the floor as Narnia projected the holographic image before her. A computer-generated wire-frame structure hovered before her with a couple of missing sections here and there, as if some monster had gone through and taken bites out of it. But even though it might give someone who wasn't used to working with only wire-frames a headache, it showed Jai a very detailed interior view of all the passageways and rooms within the Tower. Jai studied the basic plan of the place for a bit, and after deciding that who ever built this place didn't have a basic plan to start with she looked back up to Narnia.

"So yeah. This place is a mess. Okay, now show me any radiation you found that could be possibly emanating from a red light source."

Five blots appeared in various areas within the Tower. Jai scanned them casually and poked a finger at one nearer the top of the Tower. As she did so, numbers and words appeared next to her finger giving her a read out on the radiation source. Jai arched an eyebrow at the huge numbers Narnia produced on the readout.

"Too big" Jai absent-mindedly muttered.

_-How do you know that?-_ S inquired.

Jai shrugged, "It just is. When Gaia speaks to me, she doesn't always communicate with words. I get images too, and from what I can recall," Jai sighed irritably at her hap-hazard memory, "Its hand sized. So I'm thinking that this," she pointed to the rather large radiation source again, "Is our dear God friend we met earlier." 

Unsatisfied with his bonded's answer, he pressed further, _-And how do we know this hand sized piece of red crystal can't generate tons of energy?-_

Jai cast an odd look at her _Nightmare_ cat, but knew what he was driving at. She couldn't bullshit him that was for sure. He didn't want her risking her neck and subsequently his over a hunch that could be wrong. He wanted her to look at all the facts, even the ones she didn't think of before making decision on which one might be the crystal. 

"From what I can remember, it's not something that just radiates massive amounts of energy," She narrowed her eyes trying to pick out more surfacing information in her mind, "I think it needs to be activated by someone. I keep getting this feeling that it's been overlooked, as if who ever has it doesn't really know what it is." 

_-You think'. You feel'. No offence my love, but this information that we're going on isn't exactly concrete.-_

"Don't you think I know that? But what else do we have to go on? I can only make educated guesses here out of this crap stuffed in my freakin' head!" Even though she knew her bonded meant well, he was bugging the crap out of her and when she got annoyed she could swear up a storm like the true, purebred New Yorker she was.

S visibly winced from the waves of irritation pouring through the bond he shared with Jai'eesh, _-Sorry love. I'm just worried, that's all. This isn't exactly a romp through the park here. We don't know what we're up against, or even what we're supposed to do after we find this stupid crystal. I hate being in the dark, you do too, and don't deny it!-_

"Yeah well, what else can we do?" Jai grumbled as she crossed her arms and looked at the map again pointing to another spot lower down the tower and reading the info listed there, "Okay, here's my suggestion. It looks like the lowest radiation reading we have here is at the bottom of the tower"

"Actually it is located within basement levels of the structure." Narnia corrected automatically, which didn't improve Jai's mood by much — she hated being interrupted.

"Basement, whatever. Anyway, I say we check each of these null areas," she said as she pointed to one of the missing areas on the holographic map, "Since they're practically on the way down to the basement area. That way if the crystal just happens to be inside of one of those areas we hit the jackpot early and get out of here. If not, at least we don't have to backtrack all over this Gaia-forsaken dump and we'll have eliminated the unknowns. What do you think?"

The gray cat just tilted his head while staring at the map as well, _-Sounds good to me. Might as well do some sightseeing on the way. Never know, we might find something more useful that this damned crystal on the way.-_

Jai had grabbed Narnia and put it in her pack as S mind-spoke to her, but the last thing he said made shivers run down her back for some reason. _Another one of Gaia's resurfacing memories? No, this is more foreboding than that_, Jai mused, _but then it could be just the atmosphere of this place getting to me_. Shrugging it off, Jai and the _Nightmare_ cat slipped back out into the hallway and then promptly disappeared again in another set of shadows. 


	6. 1:5 Pain and Silence

Why did pain always come with silence? Silence to reinforce it, silence that made it resonate throughout his body, silence that made his mind dwell on nothing but that pain. The darkness surrounding him did nothing but enhance both the silence and the pain. He wished he could push the pain away into the darkness, banish the tormenting silence, and lock it away somewhere where it couldn't effect him anymore. But no, he was the one who was locked away, in a cage hung precariously over what seemed like a never-ending pit. Of course, he was just guessing about the pit, he couldn't see much from what little light was cast in from the doorway to this floorless room. The only two things that were real right now was the cold metal of the cage against his cheek and the pain he felt. He made a guess that on top of all the bruises and cuts he had that two of his ribs were cracked if not broken, which amounted to the worst of his physical pain. 

_Yes, that's it Rayden_. He thought to himself weakly, _think about something other than the silence_. 

It had been nearly three days since he had been thrown in this cage, or at least he supposed it had been three days, he couldn't be really sure. Hell it could have only been three minutes for all he knew. In a world of eternal night it was kind of hard to get a good judge of how time passed. He had first tired to contact the Elder Gods, but had failed time and time again. Even with his now mortal and very battered body he should have been able to reach them through meditation, but after several attempts that lasted for hours on end he gave up in an exhausted heap. Obviously his brother had covered all the bases in his capture and had figured out some way to block him from contacting Rayden's only salvation. Now here he was, in the same exhausted heap, hours later tired not only physically, but mentally as well.

The reprieve from the pain didn't last long as the memory faded away as well as what little focus he had for the moment. Again he broke down, gave in and let the darkness take his thoughts once more. The pain he so desperately sought solace from, _heart-sickness_ once more assaulted him. Heart-sickness from loosing his friends, or rather at not being a good enough friend to them. Not being able to protect them, not being able to save them, along with the rest of Earth Realm. He failed. That was his pain that he failed. Friend, Protector, God, he had failed at being each one. He knew needed rest, for both mind and body, but sleep wouldn't come. He knew he needed to figure a way to escape from this place so he could alert the Elders. Yet the only thing that came to him was the agonizing thoughts of his long dead friends assaulting him, all of them whispering one word; "Failure."

The fraction of light streaming into the room was abruptly cut off several times as guards rushed past the doorway to where he was imprisoned. Loud voices booming in the background, issuing orders in some bizarre language he didn't recognize, mixed with the thundering footfall and his own howling mind was deafening to him. He curled up in a tighter ball trying valiantly to cover his ears, but instead he just aggravated his two cracked ribs making him spasm in pain and see spots dance before his eyes. 

"SHUT UP!" he screamed in desperation, but his cries were either drowned out or simply ignored. Why couldn't they just all leave him alone? Why couldn't they all just shut the hell up and let him think of a way out of here? Rayden suddenly found himself wishing someone would just hit him in the head and put him out of his misery.

Suddenly his wish came true, as a large, fuzzy, and rather heavy thing fell right on his head!

He yelped as he sat up and spun around to face this new attacker. However, no fight ensued as he was too shocked by the sight that was sitting before him. There a huge gray domestic Earth cat sat, just as dazed as he, getting its bearings back after its fall. Before he could even start to guess where the domestic cat could have possibly come from, he got another shock as the cat shot a very human-like dirty look at where it had just fallen from. He looked up where the cat was looking, but only saw darkness. Brows nit in confusion he looked back to find the cat looking directly at him now, with a very sickeningly sweet cat smile on it's furry face. Purring quite loudly the cat proceeded to walk up to him and start rubbing on him affectionately.

Still confused, he started petting the cat on the head roughly, "Where did you come from?" he whispered, and was surprised at the gruffness of his own voice.

The cat oddly enough responded by staring up again and shooting another dirty look. This confused him even more as he looked up again only to see the same sight he did before. _This cat has to be from Earth Realm_, his thoughts ran ragged through his mind, _domestic cats like this only come from Earth Realm. How could he have possibly have gotten here though?_ Suddenly it hit him just as painfully as the cat did in the head. What if Earth Realm has fallen? It was one terrible possibility for an Earth cat to find its way to Outworld. Did Khan merge the Realms? His chest started to seize up as his mind ran over the possibility of his worst fear come true. He didn't even stop to consider rational possibilities as he started to panic, he had to find a way out and he had to do it now!

A sharp pain shot through his hand as he cursed and fell backwards while the cat did a back flip escaping his clutch. In his fear-driven madness he must have begun to strangle the poor thing without even noticing and of course it had bitten him in retaliation. He sat back up and looked to see the strange cat now shooting him a dirty look.

"I'm sorry, please I didn't mean to," he started, trying to coax the big cat back over to him.

Instead it looked at him warily, and then jumped through the bars that made up the bottom of the cage he was in into the endless abyss below.

"NO!" he roared as he twisted and thrust his hand through the floor bars to try and grab the cat before it fell too far from him.

He froze again as his eyes widened considerably as the only thing he could hear was his own blood rushing through his ears. The sight before him chilled him to the bone, as there stood a young woman upside-down untouched by gravity, holding the sleek house cat in her arms like a baby. She wore mainly black leather with bead trim along the edges, but a very strange gray jacket with the most colorful patches all over it set off the playful mood she seemed to be radiating. Long red-brown hair hung over her face, but her huge brown eyes seemed to bore right through him. The cat was obviously hers as it rubbed it's head against her ample bosom purring louder than it had before like there was nothing at all was wrong hanging upside-down like that. Several minutes passed as Rayden and the strange woman just looked each other over several times.

Finally he licked his lips and dared to speak, "Who are you?"

The woman cocked her head to one side and narrowed her gaze at him.

"Please, can you help me get out of here? I need to escape," then it dawned on his tired mind, she didn't understand a word he was saying.

"Gniyas er'uoy drow a dnatsredun t'non I. Yrros m'i." She replied to his dismay, as he too couldn't understand a thing she said.

Thus in desperation he tried all the Earth Realm languages he knew, but to no avail, she either kept shaking her head at him or just giving him puzzled looks. Finally she stared to ignore him as she shifted the cat to sit on her shoulders as she went searching for something in the pack attached to her hip.

The exhaustion, pain, and frustration finally caught up with him as he cursed in desperation to no one in particular, "Dammit, why can't anything go my way for once today!"

The woman jerked her head up abruptly and glared at him with those intense brown eyes of hers, "You speak _Ancient_?"

His jaw dropped as he realized that he had in fact spoken in his races own language, "Yes, how the hell do you know it? Only a handful of mortals were taught it once and as far as I know they're all dead!" he demanded.

"Well, obviously not everyone who knows it is dead, or else I wouldn't have learned it, eh?" she shot back sarcastically.

He sat up, rubbed his temples, and sighed trying to clear his tired mind, "Listen I'm sorry, I-I've just been through a lot today and I need help. Could you please help me get out of here?"

The woman again raised her eyebrow and just jumped off the bottom the cage into the darkness, but then reappeared sitting on top of the cage above him, "Why should I help you do anything? As far as I know there could be a very good reason why you should be kept in there. I mean, hell, you almost choked my cat to death!"

She then grinned at the cat, which didn't match the blunt sarcasm in her tone of voice, "But maybe you're right, S An enemy of our enemy is our friend." She then turned to him with a sly look in her face, "But first you have to say the magic word!"

"Wha-?" he had no clue what the heck she had been talking about, his brain just wasn't working at all.

"Nope not it." And with that she winked at him and then faded into darkness leaving him alone.

Standing there stunned, he finally realized what had happened and what little of his patience was left dissolved in anguish, "PLEASE GOD DAMMIT!" he bellowed as he punched the cage in defeat.

Just then a metallic groan came from the cage door which made him look up as he had accidentally swung it open with his punch. And there the mysterious woman and her cat stood on the balcony jutting towards the cage coming from the doorway to the room.

She just looked at him and sighed; "You don't have to scream."

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow at her, as he wondered how she had unlocked the door without being anywhere near it at the time. He had no answer, but at the moment he didn't care as he carefully judged the distance to the balcony she was on and leapt out of the cage. The resulting landing wasn't very pretty, but it was effective, as he didn't fall into the endless abyss below. He just lay there for a minute waiting for his ribs to quit screaming or him to black out, yet instead he felt an arm slip around his back and help him sit up. He looked up to find the young woman probing the area around his two bad ribs.

"Do you mind not doing that?" he snapped as he made a feeble attempt to push her away.

She just ignored him utterly and kept right on poking him, and after a minute she muttered something in her own language at the cat. The cat just looked displeased and oddly impatient with them, tail lashing menacingly. Finally the girl sighed at the cat and then abruptly put both hands over Rayden's cracked ribs and took a deep breath. What happened afterward Rayden couldn't be sure, as he felt warmth spread outward from her hands, but then his body finally gave in to it's extreme exhaustion and he passed out cold. 

When he came to, he was in a shadowed corner of one of the twisted hallways of the Black Tower. He had no clue where he was, but from the looks of the hallway, it was defiantly one of the lesser-used ones. The cranny he was dumped in was so well hidden in the darkened area no one would have found him anytime soon unless they knew exactly where he was. Rayden slowly stood up, still a bit groggy, but no physical pain met him as he moved. He quickly looked himself over finding even the numerous bruises and abrasions that his brother had given him completely healed. Another thing he noticed was that a small amount of his powers had returned to him, enough that he could give someone a small shock, but still it was something more than he had. 

Getting used to being surprised all the time, he just stood there numbly trying to figure out how his powers had mysteriously regenerated. He knew that the strange woman had probably healed him and dumped him here in this relatively safe area, but restore his powers? That was impossible, only direct contact with Earth Realm could restore that and his immortality. It was a fail-safe of being turned into a protector of a specific Realm, the Immortal in question got all his powers bonded to the Realm, thus if the Immortal left the Realm and lost the connection with it he would be on his own to fuel his powers. This meant one could not wreak havoc in other Realms, but also if he abused his powers in his own Realm there would be a backlash of epic proportions to that Immortal, so much so that it could kill him. Yet here he was with a tiny amount of his powers restored to him, and he knew he had no direct contact with Earth Realm. Unless the woman was..? No, that didn't make one iota of sense.

He stood there for a moment more, trying to decide what to do next. Contacting the Elders from here was probably unsafe, it would leave him dangerously open as he would just have to sit there and meditate ignoring his surroundings. Plus, he knew his brother would be watching for any such signal sent that way, and if he caught it, it would lead him directly to back to Rayden, which would end up with him in that cage again probably in worse shape than before. Getting back to Earth Realm on his own would prove to be just as difficult as contacting the Elder Gods as he knew Shao Khan had every portal that led to Earth Realm under very heavy protection. Rayden sighed, but then he thought of the young woman again.

She was obviously from Earth Realm, both in the way she acted and that strange domestic cat of hers being dead give-aways. Who was this strange girl, and why was she here? Could it be that the Elder Gods had sent her to help him? Anything was possible right now, and he knew he shouldn't leap to conclusions, hell it could all be another cruel joke of his brother's just to drag him down again. However, at the moment he had no choice, he needed help in getting back to Earth Realm. And she was the only one he could think of that could possibly help him. Yet there was one big problem facing him, how in the hell was he supposed to find her in this insane asylum?


	7. 1:6 The Crystal

-_Well this is another fine mess you've gotten us into._- irritation throbbed through Jai's bond with her _Nightmare_ cat as he shot her a dirty look.

Not that she could see what look he was giving her actually, her attention was taken up by studying the two creatures guarding a doorway before her, but she assumed from the annoyance he was radiating it was a dirty one. Both creatures were extremely tall, very muscular and had four arms each! Not something you see everyday, and something Jai wasn't thrilled at seeing either. Luckily Jai and S had the advantage as they could see them, but the two alien guards couldn't see anything except shadows in the hallway emptying out in front of them. 

-_Are you sure it's in there?-_ the cat demanded.

_-Yes.-_

_-Figures.-_

It wasn't like S was alone in feeling irritated at the moment, so far this entire mission had been a bust. On the way down here, they had checked each of those missing areas only to find one loon in a cage and nothing else of interest. On top of almost being caught twice and barely avoiding being noticed by those same undead creatures they faced earlier back on Earth this errand Gaia had sent them on was shaping up to be a suicide mission. Hopefully that weird guy they let out was providing some distraction so the pressure on them would lessen a bit.

Unfortunately S caught that last thought, -_Yeah that was a brilliant move,_- he snarled, -_Wasting your powers healing some twit we don't even know! What do you think we're still on Earth or something? Gaia can't help us here and you have the mana reserves of a shot-glass. No, correction, half a shot-glass now.-_

-_Are you done yet?_- Jai shot back just as venomously, -_If you're gonna bitch, at least help me figure out a way to get past these guys._-

Jai knew they were both tired, it had been at least a couple of days already and no sleep. And since S was basically a part of her, he shared in her exhaustion. Thus, Jai just dropped the subject and so did S, all insults instantly forgotten as carrying a grudge against someone who was in your mind constantly wasn't particularly healthy. Of course some people might consider bonding and undead creature unhealthy as well. With the little spat out of both their systems, Jai assessed the situation before them again, but she knew nothing had changed in the last second. There before them was the room where Narnia said the small radiation source was originating from and those big weird alien-looking guards were still there.

The problem was that they couldn't just walk through the shadows to get into the room in question. That would have been preferable as the room itself was dark inside, but there was a huge gap of light provided by several torch stands near the doorway, destroying any link between shadows on the outside to the inside. Plus both guards were very observant and it didn't look like they were about to slack off anytime soon. Another annoying fact that kept rearing its ugly head was that this section of the Tower's basement was extremely busy, as every so often another one of those four-armed aliens would walk by the doorway and the guards.

-_So knocking them out would be a dead give away that something's going on to one of the passer-byes. What about a small distraction to make them look away for a second? Like me or Narnia floating by?_- S offered.

-_No, I don't think these guys would fall for it. This isn't a Hanna-Barbara cartoon. A distraction of any kind might bring more of those things here. I want them to stay content with what they're doing, like there's nothing wrong at all. That way they won't look anywhere they're not supposed to_.-

-_I see. If they don't think anything's wrong, they won't know we're actually in there. What about going invisible? If not with magic, can Narnia cover us up and do that light trick it pulls off oh so well?-_

-_It's impossible. Narnia can't cover me as per the laws of physics once you bend light away from an object, it's enveloped in total darkness and then how would I see? Plus you know blatant magic use would draw those undead things to our area. However_-

-_However what?-_ S asked, and then slowly realizing what his counterpart had in mind, -_You've got to be kidding me.-_

A few minutes later S stepped out of the shadows completely invisible as he was covered in Narnia. Narnia may have been an advanced living computer, but it still felt like cold, wet slime all over his body and S was furiously fighting the urge to lick it off like a living cat would. This had to have been the most disgusting thing he had to go through since dying. Wincing all the way, he slowly padded towards the two ugly four-armed guards praying this crazy idea of Jai's would work. It seemed every time Jai was sent out on another mission for Gaia, she kept coming up with crazier and crazier ideas to get out of these bizarre situations. What he didn't realize until after Jai had ordered Narnia to cover him, was that it was true that when Narnia bent light away from them both making them invisible light normally used to see by couldn't reach S's eyes, yet he wasn't affected like Jai would have been as being dead meant he really didn't "see" in the first place. In reality S used his ethereal senses to evaluate his surroundings, thus he never really needed light to see by.

As he neared them, one suddenly shifted making S freeze as all his hairs stood on end which allowed Narnia to get in and touch his skin. Again a wave of nausea fell over him as he wanted to wretch as if that would help the situation any. Apparently the big creature must have had a nerve twitch as it shifted back again to its original pose. Thankfully the undead didn't have to breathe or S was sure he'd be panting like a dog by now out of shear nervousness. With that trial over, S darted in-between the guards unnoticed and entered the darkened room beyond them. 

Even though he was in complete darkness, S's augmented _Nightmare_ senses made the room clear to him as if the room was properly lighted and he wasn't invisible. Here he sensed mounds and mounds of just junk all over the place. Well, it was junk to him anyway, what people saw in gaudy gold and silver jewelry with huge rocks imbedded in it was beyond him. There were other things in here, also covered in precious metals and stones, but just like the jewelry he ignored it all as junk. Material possessions belonged to the living, since after death you really get a whole new spin on reality. Thus, he just shrugged as he lazily passed these great heaps of priceless crap looking for anything that might be this stupid red crystal Gaia wanted. After wandering for at least fifteen minutes, he just stopped dead and reached out to Jai'eesh.

-_Yeah so, where is it again?-_

-_It's supposed to be in there. Ask Narnia.-_ was the response.

S rolled his eyes and withdrew to one of the corners of the immense room where the mounds of treasure made sort of a protected area where he could whisper without being heard _hopefully_.

"Narrrnia, whateverrr you do don't talk, but somehow alerrrt me when I get close to the rrradiation source."

If Narnia heard him, it must have taken S's warning literally and didn't respond. S "looked" around one of the mounds to see if the guards had possibly heard him, and luckily they hadn't budged from their posts, but they were still alert as ever. After waiting about another minute, S set out to traverse the room again and hoped that when he got near this crystal Narnia would let him know somehow. He prayed the stupid slimy computer wouldn't alert him by beeping or some other loud noise, but then he suddenly felt the wet thing around him convulse, pulling' rather, towards another corner in the room. S set off in that direction, silently padding through all the clutter as only a cat could, following the tug on him by Narnia.

When he finally reached the mound that Narnia was pulling him to, he noticed it was newer than the others were. While the others were covered in a pretty good coat of dust from years of just sitting there, this one had more dirt than dust on it which had probably accumulated during it's journey here. S felt his hopes rise as his senses told him that some of the dirt was from the Earth! Being bonded to a woman who spoke directly to the soul of the Earth kind of made one an expert at recognizing things that came from Earth. Narnia didn't stop pulling, but instead the sensation got stronger as S had no choice but to climb up the heap in the direction Narnia was pulling before the disgusting computer pulled his skin off. He climbed as carefully as he could, trying his best not to dislodge a thing or else the gig was up. 

Finally reaching the top Narnia stopped pulling at him and resettled on his body, which made him shiver violently. Yet it also left him clueless where the crystal was. Was he on top of it? Did he have to dig down? Where was it already? He was getting so tired of this crap. Just as he stepped forward lightly, his paw brushed along something that set all his senses on fire.

Suddenly S wasn't in a darkened treasure room anymore, as he was floating over the strangest scene. There below him was a huge field, stretching as far as the eye could see yet at the same time it wasn't. Now it was a huge body of water like a sea, but now it was the field again, the plants waving gently in a non-existent breeze. Finally S realized that he wasn't seeing just one scene, but two or more like each scene was a transparency overlapping each other. He could see the sea is some places, the field in others, and on top of that he could still see the treasure room he was really in. 

Ghostly scenes captivated S for both changed like time had gone askew there. He watched as a small town started being built in the field, then change into a huge city, and at last crumble to ruins being over taken by the field once more. On the sea he witnessed boats pass by, and each time they passed they progressed in technology from sailboats to steam boats and finally to boats akin to the ones he knew in his home time on Earth. He suddenly realized that while he was watching time pass in years as if they were seconds, only a minute has passed in the treasure room. Between floating, but not really, and watching time flow past him, while it really wasn't, S was so disoriented that he barely heard Jai call for him.

_-S! S! Are you there?-_

And just like that, S was back in the darkened treasure room, -_No I'm fine, I think I found it though-_

_-You had me worried, I lost you for a moment there. Well get out of there quickly, we might be having company soon.-_

-Coming.-

He quickly jerked his paw back and felt again with his paws before him and found what felt like a large skinny piece of crystal. Since cats normally didn't see color anyway and the fact he really couldn't see at all he wasn't sure if it was a _red_ crystal or not, but after that experience he was willing to bet it was the one they were after. S picked it up in his mouth as he felt Narnia extend over it, but he wasn't sure which sensation was creeping him out more, Narnia or holding the crystal. 

With that done, he took off again, leaping soundlessly from the pile he was on and headed out the door to return to where Jai was waiting for him in the shadows. The sooner he got back the better, he couldn't wait to get Narnia off him and he swore he was never, ever doing something this dumb again. The minute he entered the shadow Jai was hiding in he dropped the crystal and started to shake like a wet dog would after emerging from water.

-_So this is it?_- Jai mind spoke as he bent over and retrieved the object, and as she did, S could tell Jai had the same reaction to touching the crystal like he did.

However he had other pressing matters on his mind as Narnia was not coming off him at all, and even worse for some reason Narnia was moving inside his ears! Finally he just couldn't take it anymore as he yelled, "Dammit Narrrnia get the hell off of me!!"

The shadows that were wrapped around Jai'eesh and Mr. S were excellent at hiding the two of them physically, but they did nothing to prevent sound from escaping them. The second S had yelled at Narnia, Jai snapped out of the crystal-induced trance and narrowly avoided being impaled by two spears. Jai growled, shoving the crystal and the now separated Narnia hovering next to her into her pack as she grabbed her cat companion while still nimbly evading the searching spearheads. They were coming from the guards of course, who thanks to S had found the shadow-wrought chamber where the duo was hiding and were now cautiously making their way inside.

As Jai had the advantage of being able to see them, but they couldn't see her yet, she ducked and rolled in-between the two guards' legs exiting as they entered where she used to be. The minute she left, the shadows instantly went back to their normal state, as the two guards subsequently became part of the wall forever. However, she had the bad timing of being seen by another one of those four-armed things that walked past the hallway and she took off running like a bat out of hell as it started shouting at her. Jai didn't stop to wonder if the creature that had seen her was in pursuit, or had gone off to go get help, she just kept moving trying to put some distance between her and the scene. The only thing on her mind was trying to induce more speed from her already tired body, so much so that she didn't see a hand snake around from around a hidden corner in the hallway catching her until it was too late.


	8. 1:7 Surprise, surprise

The next thing Jai knew she was slammed against a wall and held there as a legion of those four-armed aliens flew past, also completely missing the shadowed opening to the offshoot hallway. After they had past, the arm lessened its pressure on keeping Jai still as she took that opportunity to seize the arm pivot her hips to power her throw and slam whoever was attached to the arm against the wall and put them in a wrist-lock. After the person let out a yelp, she came to her senses and realized that the person before her was none other than the guy she rescued earlier from the hanging cage.

"Do you always greet people like this?" he managed weakly as he tried to look at her over his shoulder.

"You! What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed back.

He sighed and whispered, "I came to repay the favor you've done for me. I thought you could use the help. And it looks to me like you do."

Just as Jai was about to reply, S interrupted her, _-Jai, they're coming. We have to get out of here.-_

She didn't even need to ask who the "they" were as she herself could vaguely sense those undead things looking for something – most likely Jai and S – in the general area, and they were getting closer.

"Um, can I have my arm back now?" the man asked with an exasperated look on his face.

Jai growled, at no one in particular, and released the man's wrist. She backed off watching him warily, just as he did the same after turning around rubbing his maltreated wrist. Before Jai could say anything, another group of those aliens ran past in the opposite direction from before, as Jai and the man plastered themselves to the wall.

After they had past the man turned back towards Jai, "Looks like you've made some friends with the Shokan," he said with a sly look on his face.

Jai ignored him as she picked up S and let him wrap himself around her neck, "We need to get out of here," she finally responded after a moment.

"I wouldn't advise that right now," the stranger took a tone that a teacher would if addressing an unruly student which quickly got on Jai's already frazzled nerves, "We're in Shokan territory and they know you're here. I'd just sit tight until things settle down again."

Jai could feel S's hair start to stand on end as it brushed against her neck in doing so; the _Nightmare_ couldn't disagree with the man more. Jai's mind quickly whirled through the options she had left to her as something finally dawned on her. She took off her pack from around her waist and started rummaging through it for something as the stranger noticed what she was doing and started to come over to her. She pulled out a small hand-sized object with a LED display and buttons on it as S purred in recognition of the detonation device. On their way down here, Jai had left little "presents" of C4 when ever they had stopped somewhere in the Tower long enough to do so. The last one she had laid down was now inside of the wall where the two alien guards were also trapped...

_-How many are you going to detonate?-_ S asked.

_-All of them_,- Jai replied as she started punching in the detonation codes, _-It will make it look like we're going to be attacking from everywhere at once.-_

_-Total confusion. I love it.-_ the _Nightmare_ cat purred happily.

The stranger watched her in confusion as he finally asked, "What's that?"

With something finally going her way, Jai just winked at the man and said, "Cover your ears."

And before he could say anything further, Jai'eesh hit the enter button on the detonator.

Rayden had just opened his mouth to ask the odd woman what the heck she had meant by, "Cover your ears" when his whole world was suddenly turned upside-down. He hit the floor as the blast deafened him as he saw flames and other debris fly past the narrow passageway's opening. The ground beneath him shook so violently that he feared that the whole tower was going to fall down right on top of him. Rubble fell from the ceiling as covered his head as best he could and tried to plaster himself against the wall for some protection. After the aftershocks died down, he tried to stand up and get his bearings again as he noticed the mysterious woman and her cat companion had taken off down the narrow passageway. He cursed as he struggled to his feet so he could purse them.

Even though he had no idea what the hell had just happened, but one thing was for sure as the woman had to be behind the blasts and he couldn't let her slip through his fingers again. Ears ringing loudly, he managed at least a sprint as he took off down the passageway after them. Racing through the halls he hoped he could catch up to her as she had defiantly proved to be the help he needed to get back the Earth Realm and the Elder Gods with that last stunt. 

_She must be desperate to do something like this,_ he thought, _but how did she do it? I don't think even black powder could have caused that much destruction and I didn't sense her using any magic_

Snapping back to attention he skidded to a halt in front of where the hallway had split into two. He muttered annoyed as he tried to guess which one she may have went down. He thought he heard a noise from the hall on the right even though his head was still ringing and without a second thought he took off once more.

Unfortunately luck was not with the fallen God of Earth Realm as he ran right smack into a rather angry and bewildered Shokan. He and the four-armed giant stared at each other for a moment as Rayden finally decided to break the ice.

"You wouldn't have happened to have seen a young woman with long brown hair and a big gray cat come this way would you?"

Of course the Shokan just lunged at Rayden, as the God narrowly missed getting hit by all four arms coming at him as one. However this left the angry giant open for just a split second that Rayden didn't waste in delivering two solid elbow strikes on the Shokan's ribs before he got out of there. The monster bellowed in pain as Rayden swore he had either cracked one of its ribs or shattered his elbow. However, if it was injured it only seemed to spur it on instead of doing the reverse. That was the key to fighting and defeating Shokan in battle, getting inside their defenses, but the real trick was to avoid those arms as they were all extremely good at pounding things to death with them. Yet maybe luck was still with Rayden as he noticed the Shokan too bore signs of having been caught in one of the strange explosions; abrasions all over his body as well as the fact the creature was favoring one of it's legs very slightly.

While Rayden was also suffering from his ringing ears as well as a growing headache from being so close to the initial blast, he had the advantage of still being in relatively one piece without injury. On top of that, he was the smaller of the two, which gave him twice the room the Shokan had in maneuvering in the cramped passageway. Rayden ignored his headache and focused on the giant's favored right leg. Suddenly it was as if everything clicked as he saw the Shokan gather itself for another volley of attacks and feints with its still quite deadly arms, but it made the mistake of rocking forward on its left leg as it lunged for him.

His attention quickly returned to the Shokan's incoming attacks, but long enough for him to deftly avoid them once more so he could positions himself correctly for his attack. With it defenses compromised in having missed Rayden completely, the Shokan tried to regain its balance by shifting its weight back to its injured right leg as Rayden dropped into a crouch and connected with the inside of the Shokan's right knee with a sweeping left side kick. Rayden didn't dwell too long on the satisfying sound of the giant's knee shattering as he followed up with a solid punch to the creature's diaphragm with his right fist. The whole attack and counterattack lasted for just a split second as half a second later the Shokan crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap.

Rayden jumped back to his feet in a defensive stance warily considering his fallen opponent making sure the Shokan was going to stay down as they had a bad habit of getting back up when you didn't want them to. Suddenly a bright, white light appeared from behind him as he twirled around ready to attack, but was instantly blinded by the intensity of the light for a moment before he put a hand up to block it from his eyes. The light did not mix well with his roaring headache as it resurfaced with a vengeance making it feel like a million tiny daggers were attacking his mind all at once. Trying to block the light and the pain he heard clapping begin as the light and sound of the clapping advance towards him.

As the light finally moved past him her recognized the shape of the odd woman emerged from the darkness. As his eyes readjusted themselves to the relative darkness of the passageway, he noticed the girl looking over the body of the fallen Shokan and then let out a low appreciative whistle for his work. That was also when he noticed that the blinding light was coming from what looked like a strange, long metal tube she was holding in her hand over her shoulder.

She then turned to him with an amused look on her face, "I see you've made friends with the Shokan."

The joke wasn't lost on him as he shot a wry look of his own and asked, "So how long were you just going to stand there and watch?"

The woman just shrugged at him, "Didn't look like you needed any help to me."

Rayden looked away for a moment as he noticed the large gray cat staring at him apparently awaiting his response with an odd human-like expression on its face. Disturbed by the cat's un-cat like actions he looked back at the woman and said, "And if I lost?"

"A very wise man once said, I don't believe in _if_ questions,'" She too regarded the cat for a moment, "A wise man that John DeLancie. He played Q on Star Trek you know and you don't argue with the omnipotent."*

Omnipotent? Was she talking about a God? Was this Q the one who sent her? His mind whirled as he tried to figure out what she was talking about and valiantly tried to recall any God he knew by either name. Nothing rang a bell as he wondered who this new God could possibly be, but he decided now was not the time to ask her.

At the same instant he swore he saw the cat roll its eyes as if it was exasperated with what the woman had just said. He kept his gaze on the young woman but at the same time he watched the weird cat out of the corner of his eye. Finally the woman glanced at the cat, but only for a moment as he could almost feel something pass between them. Then it hit him as he realized what was going on. However before he could even ask the woman about it she looked back up at him and captured his attention so completely with those huge hazel-brown eyes of hers.

"So you want to come with us? I'm thinking in this place two are better than one."

He quickly nodded in agreement, but then added slyly, "And three is better than two," as he saw the cat's head whip around and its gaze narrow in suspicion of him confirming his fears about the creature.

The cat, still glaring at him, then just simply stood up and walked off almost disappearing into the shadows with its amazing gray coat. The woman just raised an eyebrow at him again.

"Very well. Let's go find someplace to rest first," she then sighed, "I think we are both in dire need of some."

Rayden nodded his approval and gestured for her to lead the way. She did, following where the cat had disappeared down the hall as he found himself wondering about who this strange woman was for the thousandth time since he first laid eyes on her. Glancing over his shoulder at her in deep thought, something caught his eye.

Suddenly forgetting himself as he pointed to the metal tube that was now extinguished; he just had to know, "What _is_ that thing?"

* - Just to let you know, this isn't going to turn into some funky Star Trek crossover. Its just Jai'eesh is a huge Star Trek fan and of course being stuck 500 years in the past when the show hasn't even been invented yet no one but Mr. S knows what the heck she's talking about. Oh yeah, and if you haven't guessed yet, Mr. S is short for Mr. Spock which is the poor _Nightmare's_ full name. He just keeps it short because he doesn't want to infringe on any copyrights =~.^=


	9. 1:8 Sigh

The moans of the dying echoed through the darkened halls as the smell of scorched rock and flesh wafted through the air. However none of it seemed to register with Shao Khan at the moment. Anger boiled over from within him, as it seemed to ooze from every pore in his body. The Shadow Priests sensed this as they stayed as far behind him as their obedience would allow as he marched down one of the many now-ruined halls of the Black Tower. None wished to risk a premature demise by getting in their Lord's way. He stopped abruptly and surveyed the ghastly view before him. Here a huge crevice had opened up in the floor as he could see two floors down where it all ended in rubble and carnage as an entire legion of dead and broken Shokan lay there under it.

Eyes burning with hate that even Hell's fury couldn't match he went over the events that had led him here. It was only about an hour ago that a Shadow Priest had returned to him after he had sent it and a few others to go fetch his brother for some "questioning." When it returned alone and without Rayden he had learned his brother had somehow managed to escape. Yet as if that wasn't enough, it was at that exact moment that the entirety of the Black Tower had come under some mysterious attack. Explosions from every floor had rocked the entire structure even catching him unaware. Even before the dust had time to settle, so to speak, the entire Tower was in danger of collapsing. He instantly dispatched his Shadow Priests with a mere thought to round up the survivors and get them to help stabilizing the Tower. He himself went to the worst place where an entire floor was collapsing. Whatever had gone off there had taken out all of the vital support structures for that floor.

After fixing the floor himself he went around to each place where one of the explosions had taken place to see if he could find any clue to either how the attack was pulled off or who may have done it. Although for the latter he had a fairly good idea who the culprit may be, as to how; one thing was for sure, it wasn't magic. Thus, here he was looking down two floors where he should only see floor beneath his feet. Finally his fury submerged itself as he tapped it for additional power before he composed himself and suddenly turned quickly on his heel to face the Shadow Priests. They startled easily, shifting and flinching as his searing gaze washed over them.

"I believe we've had this intruder running around in my tower long enough. I want this person and my brother found and brought back to me breathing. I am not going to be denied the fun of depriving this person of their life in front of Rayden as this person almost deprived me of my tower," he paused to incline his head as he stared at the Shadow Priests, "What the hell are you waiting for?"

All the Shadow Priests hurriedly agreed and dispersed instantly. The Shokan and the Centaurs had failed, but he knew the Shadow Priests would not. They knew better. The sudden thought of revenge warmed his body as he allowed himself a small smile. He was truly going to enjoy meeting this unique person – and then slowly disemboweling them.

The strange man was busy playing with Jai'eesh's flashlight as Mr. S looked on wanting ever so badly to let out an exasperated sigh. The undead cat restrained himself as he was trying to be nothing more than an ordinary domestic cat, but some how that thought made him want to sigh even harder. S had almost dropped the ball earlier in this role of being normal' when the man first figured out how to turn the flashlight on and off and had blinded himself in the process. Luckily S had quickly covered his smirk by burying his head further down into his paws and wrapped his tail around his face. Their new partner' certainly was interesting that was for sure. Shoulder-length white hair – or at least he thought it was white under all that dirt, tattered blue and white clothing, and his eyes They were defiantly the most striking feature about him; age, wisdom and sadness just radiated from those eyes of his, so much so it almost made S's hair stand on end when he looked directly at them.

S quickly turned his attention back to his bonded for a moment as he regarded her now. Jai'eesh was sitting back against a shadow-wrought wall facing the man while S had positioned himself off to her right curled up in a ball guarding the entrance to the shadow they were all hiding in. Supposedly Jai was trying to get some sleep, but S knew she was merely sitting there with her eyes closed. Although he could sense her fatigue along their bond as if it was a palpable thing, he couldn't get her to go to sleep. She stubbornly remained awake making sure that the shadows they were in remained under the radar of those ever-present undead things searching for them. Never mind the fact that he knew she knew that he was perfectly capable of handling everything she was doing to keep them safe so that she might be able to get some sleep. Never mind the fact that in being undead he could sense and evade those things better than she could in her present fatigued state. He repressed the urge to sigh once more and he swore Jai was just too stubborn for her own good, Gaia help them all.

A small movement of light alerted S to the fact that the man was now interested in the way the shadow they were in ate the flashlight's light instead of reflecting the familiar circle of light that would normally show up on a real wall. Then to seemingly test this change in behavior he then swung the flashlight around to aim it out of the shadow's opening so he could see it shine on the far wall of the outside hallway. 

_-Jai,-_ S mind-spoke in warning.

Without even opening her eyes she muttered, "Stop that. Someone will see the light. Please turn it off, you're draining the batteries."

He turned it off and looked at the flashlight quizzically, "Batteries?"

After examining the thing for several more moments he discovered how to unscrew the bottom of the flashlight as dumped the two D-sized batteries out.

He held one up, "Batteries?" and looked at Jai in askance.

Again without even opening her eyes, Jai just simply nodded affirmative. The man just went back to playing with the batteries as if that just by staring at them hard enough would divine their secrets to him. Slowly something dawned on S as he continued to watch the man as he tried to put the batteries back in so he could make the flashlight work once more. 

The cat turned his head a bit so his human bonded was back in view, _-Jai, has it occurred to you that we're contaminating the past by letting him play with technology from the future? I mean it's quite apparent he's never seen flashlights or batteries before.-_

Jai didn't budge, but she did open her eyes slightly as she too started to regard the man before her. 

_-I suppose you're essentially correct, but if we survive all this insanity we can always erase his memory of having even seen us.-_

And then, almost as if on cue, the man spoke up, "The cat can talk, can't it?"

The stranger continued on playing with the flashlight, trying to get it to work once more as if he had said nothing. S just stared in utter disbelief at the man as the man quickly glanced at S and winked at him.

-_Who says we need to wait until later?-_ S shot the man the classic indifferent cat look as he noticed Jai wasn't in least bit surprised by the man's startling observation.

Or maybe it wasn't a lack of surprise, just no energy to fuel surprise by lack of sleep. A small smile appeared on Jai's drawn face, whether is was from S's comment or she was trying to scare the crap out of the new guy since she wasn't looking so hot right now, S couldn't tell. 

"Yes, he can. His name is Mr. S. Also, forgive me for not introducing myself earlier as well, you can call me Jai'eesh."

S took the cue perfectly and nodded towards the stranger in greeting, "A pleasurrre."

If the man was startled at the fact that S could speak out loud, he didn't show it, S did notice however his eyes narrow as he mouthed Jai's name silently. S knew Jai's name meant "dark angel" in _Ancient_, but why would the man find that so interesting since they were both speaking in the odd language anyway? _The living_, S mused, _they're so damn strange_. 

The man returned the smile, and it was a much warmer one than Jai could muster right now, as he returned S's nod, "Indeed. Well, it's understandable with everything that's been going on, eh? My name's Rayden, Go-," he stopped abruptly, coughed to cover his mistake and continued, "You can call me Rayden."

"So what were you doing in that cage Rayden?" Jai asked casually.

He regarded the two of them for a moment and then took a breath, "Well, I wasn't in there by choice. You could say that I am – was a prisoner of war. I was locked up by the mad man who rules this cursed Realm, Shao Khan."

-_He forgot to mention that this Shao Kahn guy is a God, if this Shao Khan is the same one who came after you when you killed those alien horse-people as a griffin,-_ S mind-spoke privately to Jai'eesh.

_-I think he was implying it, S.-_ Jai corrected him.

"So, how about you two?" Rayden prompted, looking interested.

Jai smiled again, still unaware that she looked like hell froze over, "We were sent here to get something. Now we've got it and we're going home. Simple as that," she shrugged like everything they had just gone through was just a walk in the park. 

"Something tells me it isn't as simple as that, but that's beside the point. Is home where I suspect it is? Earth Realm?"

Jai nodded, "I take it you want to get back there pretty badly?"

Rayden's eyes narrowed a trifle as he took a minute thinking before he responded, "Yes."

"Well, we are headed in that direction and you are welcome in coming with us," Jai broke off her sentence deliberately with warning in her voice.

S saw the man's forehead wrinkle a bit in harder thought, as he was undoubtedly thinking up the rest of Jai's sentence. _As long as you don't get in our way or try to backstab us_, S finished it off in his own mind, _and something tells me he does not like to be threatened like that_. S smiled a predatory smile as he noticed the man frown and shift uncomfortably where he sat.

"You're too kind," the man answered in a very grave voice.

Silence once more took control of the shadow-wrought room as Jai and Rayden stared each other down for a while. However it wasn't very long before the man decided to say something at least, possibly to see if he could get some kind of response out of Jai.

"So who sent you? This Q?"

S almost exploded laughing as he instead started making choking noises as he tired to get a grip on himself, _-Oh, by Gaia! This guy's just too much, and too damn perceptive for his own good, isn't he?-_

Jai just smirked as her chest shook in mirth, whether it was at her choking bonded or Rayden's question, one couldn't be sure, "No sorry, I wasn't sent by Q. He's not real. He's um, a fictional character we like. From a story."

Rayden just looked lost.

"Oh," he managed weakly, but tried again, "So what was it that you came here to get?"

The humor just dissipated from Jai immediately as she glared at him, "None of your business. Just like it's really none of my business what your beef is with this Shao Khan or why you want to get back to Earth Realm so badly. I don't care, but I could use the help in getting back, hence why you're here right now. Alive."

S winced at Jai's tone of voice, she was really tired and when she was tired, she didn't like people bugging her. Which this Rayden was doing a fine job of at the moment. Rayden wisely backed off, sighed, and flipped the flashlight around in his hand absent-mindedly. He looked like he wanted to say more, but with the way Jai looked right now S was fairly sure the man didn't want to push his luck with her again. Silence once again dominated as S concluded that they both needed some sleep, maybe then they could dispense with being so damn secretive. S's ear swiveled around towards a sound from Rayden, as he became aware of another mortal need he didn't share anymore, and possibly a way to get both to get some rest.

-_Love, maybe some food will help us come up with a decent plan of action. That and Mr. Rayden over there looks like he hasn't had anything to eat for a long while.-_

S had projected his mind-voice as he startled Rayden a bit by doing so, but he didn't care about that as Jai brightened a bit at the idea, "You're right S, here"

Jai pulled he pack over to her and rummaged around for a minute before coming p with two packets of venison jerky and string cheese sticks. How Jai had kept the cheese from spoiling on this trip was beyond S, but Jai loved cheese and she always brought some on her missions. S shrugged the stray thought away as he watched Jai give them man a package of jerky and a cheese stick. Jai had kindly opened the plastic containing the food for him as he needed no further coaxing of getting it out and wolfing it down. S smiled as his plan was working, now both had some food in their tummies on top of being extremely pooped and all he had to do was nudge them in the right direction. Using a trick he had learned from Jai's other _Nightmare_-bonded Maude he adjusted his mind-voice to reach into both of their brains, to an area very susceptible to simple suggestions.

_-Now, I think it's time for you two to get some rest,-_ he told them both, then switched to private communication to Jai'eesh, _-And don't worry, I'll keep watch for those creatures since I don't need to sleep. Trust me, the first sign of trouble, you'll know.-_ S added, squashing what was left of any stubborn doubts on his bonded's end.

The man at first gave S a cold glare, as if he recognized what S was doing to him, but then sighed and gave in, "Actually that sounds pretty good right now."

_-Of course it does,-_ S agreed, still using his convincing' technique on the guy.

_-Don't push it cat,-_ came the man's reply that shocked S, from a mind-voice far too powerful to emanate from some mere human.

The _Nightmare_ gave Rayden quite an appraising look as he wondered who the hell this guy really was. However, this new preponderance would have to wait a moment. Jai'eesh, already curled up into a ball with her head pillowed on her pack and her sword in hand, gave up control on the shadow they were in and handed it all off neatly for S to take care of. She gave S one last mental caress before he felt sleep finally take her. Rayden however still remained awake as he looked around the shadow they were in, and out into the hallway a couple more times before he too lay down. He pillowed his head on one arm as he fingered the flashlight in his other hand with a contemplating look on his face before he closed his eyes at last. S stretched out once more and lay down in a manner that looked like his bones were made a Jell-O, which was a trademark of all cats, alive or otherwise. He then stretched his senses along the shadow and started to set up some new defenses and shields of his own devising. Satisfied that no one was about to find them anytime soon he then turned his attention back to this human Rayden who was defiantly more than he seemed. S silently prayed to Gaia that his feeling of dread that washed over S every time he stared at the man was just indigestion or something. Of course, it wasn't very likely since S didn't have a digestive tract anymore. 

Finally, S just sighed out loud.


	10. 1:9 Oh so close, yet so far

_Two shadowed figures in a room lit only by the light of two glowing anomalies behind them. Two warriors ready to tear each other apart and the only thing holding them back are words_

Shao Khan swung his sword up on his shoulder and just sneered at Rayden, "You fiercely protect them, but you weren't always like that. What happened? Did you change them or did they change you?"

"What do you care?" Rayden snapped, obviously not interested in the mad man's ranting.

"Curious," Shao Khan answered in a deadly quiet tone, "So tell me, do you preach the same message that I give to my warriors?"

"Your rambling, what message?"

"Know your enemy. Find his weakness. Exploit it." Khan smiled as he saw the concern growing on his brother's face, "It's a smart move isn't it?"

"What have you done?" Rayden asked breathlessly.

Khan shrugged, "I studied your three mortals. Their weaknesses are the very things you hold up as their virtue," Khan's mood changed suddenly, snarling the next three words as if they were poison, "Caring! Compassion! Friendship! It's going to kill all of you!"

Rayden's eyes widened as he realized what Khan was saying.

"All I had to do was keep you here long enough and they would come," Khan grinned again, "You make great bait."

The Thunder God swung around and ran to the portal back the Earth Realm, knowing he was too late, but he had to try, "Kung Lao! Stay back!" he screamed, "They're going to kill you!"

There was no answer back, both audibly and in his soul as Khan confirmed his worst fears, "They're dead Rayden!"

Rayden turned just in time to see Khan's sword arcing through the air aimed for his head

Just then Rayden sat up in a cold sweat only to find himself not in battle for his life, but in the same shadow-wrought room that he had fallen asleep in earlier. He sighed as he ran his hands through his dirty hair and relaxed a just bit, but not for long.

_-Good morning,-_ the undead cat's mind-voice resonated in his head, _-Or whatever time it is here. Hard to tell isn't it?-_

Visibly startled, Rayden turned his head slowly as his eyes met with the creature's yellow-green ones. The thing smiled at him, obviously at an attempt to be friendly, but it just came off as disturbing. Rayden thanked the higher powers that he wasn't reduced to just mortal senses like he was deprived of his powers. The strange cat was definitely an unnatural creation, not only able to talk both verbally and telepathically, but he suspected it probably had some other tricks up its figurative sleeves. It was certainly dead, or rather undead, but the real disturbing fact was that it didn't feel _wrong_ in any way like other undead would feel to him. Some how the very pure soul of this cat had crossed back over to the living world without sullying its integrity any, but that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. And in his experience, you could never trust anything undead. 

The creature kept trying at keeping a polite conversation going though, _-I bet your hungry, and I'd offer you some food, but Jai is sleeping on it. Sorry.-_

Rayden nodded silently as he tried to ignore the cat by focusing his attention on the woman still sleeping across the room from him. She was in a fetal position, her hip pack under her head and one hand clutching her sword while the other was under her pack, pillowing it. Her clothing was odd, but not as odd as her name: Jai'eesh. In _Ancient_ her name meant "Dark Angel," which was strange since mortals were not allowed to have names in _Ancient_. As long as he could remember Gods occasionally took on mortal counterparts to do their bidding and even sometimes were granted some of their powers. Normally the sponsor God or Goddess would give these mortals a new name and it was always in _Ancient_. The name itself signified what God the mortal was affiliated with and what that mortal meant personally to the divinity. Hence why the woman's name made no sense to him, as far as he knew the name gave no hint as to what God or Goddess had possibly sent Jai'eesh. Or if one even did, since she did know _Ancient_, she could have just as easily named herself. 

He had never named Kung Lao such a new name. Of course, he didn't exactly have that sort of relationship with Kung Lao either. He was one of the few Gods that believed that mortals should rule their own destinies, thus he'd never dared impose on his champion's life by re-naming him. Rayden knew that he already asked too much of Kung Lao as it was. Although now Kung Lao would never know that Kung Lao

_-Quit ignoring me,-_ the cat snapped him back to reality rather rudely.

"I wasn't ignoring you. I was trying to think," Rayden snapped back.

_-Shhhh! She's still sleeping and I'd like to keep it that way,-_ the cat quickly reprimanded him, _-I know you can speak telepathically, so do so. Which, by the way, is a rare talent for a human.-_

_-Maybe it's because I'm not human,-_ Rayden mentally "shouted" at the creature and then he just kicked himself as he realized what he had just let slip to the thing.

The cat gave the fallen God a look which Rayden found was the cat equivalent of a raised eyebrow. However before the cat could respond, it suddenly jumped up on all fours, it's hair bristled out in fright. The action made Rayden jump as well as he heard the woman across the room let out a cry.

_-Oh Shit!-_ the cat's mind-voice resonated in fear.

"What?" Rayden asked aloud, but he wasn't looking at the cat anymore, but the girl.

She was thrashing around, still unconscious, her sword thrown from her hand, clattering across the room. Rayden was instantly on his feet as he watched the big gray cat run up to her and try to jump on her as if to get her to stop thrashing about. 

"Dammit, help me here!" the cat screamed out loud as it snapped Rayden out of his stupor.

He ran over to her and tried to hold her down by her shoulders, but the woman was stronger than she looked as her body rocked with uncontrollable spasms. Rayden had a real time trying to keep Jai'eesh from bashing her head in as the cat picked up on what he was doing and amazingly enough stuck himself in-between the floor and the back of her head so every time she threw her head she hit the poor creature. Rayden winced as this was going on, but he had the rest of her uncontrollable body to deal with right now. However just as suddenly as these strange tremors started, they abruptly stopped. When she finally settled down on her back, he noticed her eyes were wide open, but she just stared off into a place that wasn't there. Completely dumbfounded Rayden made the mistake of looking directly into her eyes

Suddenly Rayden wasn't in the shadow-wrought room anymore, Jai'eesh was gone, and so was her undead cat companion. He was floating weightlessly in what seemed like deep space as a sense of total peace washed over him, taking away the recent pain of losing his friends. Even though he wanted the peace so badly, a part of him fought the welcome sensation. He needed the pain, he needed it to remember them, and he needed it to avenge them

As these conflicting emotions raged within him, he swung his head upward only to find himself staring into the blinding light of two white-hot suns. Yet they weren't suns, they were two eyes, how he knew that he had no idea. Thankfully enough they weren't looking at him, but a small speck in front of them, a small humanoid speck with four wings coming out of her back. Rayden heard a bizarre humming noise resonating throughout his body as he realized that it was coming from those blazing eyes. The small winged human cringed and winked out, leaving him alone with those eyes

Those dreaded eyes turned to him finally as his mind was overwhelmed with far too much information it was trying to convey to him. He screamed for it to stop but no sound escaped his lips as he understood so clearly what it wanted

**-Go Away.-**

Rayden came back to himself abruptly as he realized that he was looking into Jai'eesh's hazel-brown eyes again. And this time, Jai was very conscious and staring up into his as well. His breath caught as it dawned on him he was in a very compromising position of being right on top of her. 

His position wasn't lost on her either, "Um, do you mind getting off me please?"

He instantly got off her and sat up, "Sorry," he felt a bit insulted, "You were having convulsions and I was just trying to help you. The cat told me to."

The cat gave him an odd look and just turned back to Jai as it walked up to her looking very apologetic. She rubbed the cat on the head and smiled at it reassuringly. Feeling a bit left out, Rayden cleared his throat.

She looked into his eyes again, and this time he braced himself against falling in again or whatever happened last time he did so. Yet this time nothing happened.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

She quickly stood up, the cat dropping out of her lap as she began to stretch. He heard several vertebrae pop as she finally sighed. She then put her pack around her waist and went to go retrieve her sword. When she bent down to pick it up, the cat took the opportunity to jump up on her shoulders and wrap around her neck.

After that, she just turned to him at the entrance of the shadow, "Coming?"

"Where are we going?" He asked as he stood up, "I thought we were going to lay low for a while."

"We can't wait. We need to get back to Earth before he uses the portal," she said as she walked up to him and grabbed his hand.

She forcefully pulled him through the shadow's opening as they emerged in the hallway. She then proceeded to drag him down the hall. Now the cat was looking at him apologetically from its perch on her shoulder.

Finally fed up with this crap, he shook her off and demanded, "What the hell is going on here? What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you hear me? We need to get to the portal before he uses it." She rolled her eyes at him like he was an idiot.

"He? You mean Shao Khan?" then it dawned on him, "You're suggesting we use the portal in his throne room aren't you?"

"Isn't that the only portal left unguarded? Or do you know of another?"

He just stared at her in utter disbelief, "You're mad! It's unguarded because it's in his throne room, _where he is_!"

She just stared back, challengingly, "So?"

_-Um, guys-_

"So? Did you lose all of your common sense with those convulsions back there or something?" He snarled, his voice rising, "We can't go up there and walk in and say, Oh hey, can we use the portal? Thanks.' At this rate he'll kill us before we even get there!"

_-Hello? We're attracting the wrong sort of attention here.-_ the cat persisted.

However, no one listened, "Listen stupid, you agreed when you came with us not to get in my way, and right now your are really jeopardizing this mission. I don't care who or what's in my way, especially this Shao Khan whoever."

"You do realize those Shadow Priests that have been dogging us are just a mere fraction of his power? We don't have the resources to fight him and an army of those things, and that's what we'll be facing in that throne room!"

_-Speaking of-_

Before the rest of the cat's warning could be heard two Shadow Priests appeared behind the arguing couple ready to kill. Rayden instantly dropped into a crouch and knocked the thing off its feet with a low sweep kick, but when he followed it up with a stomp to its face it caught his foot and threw him on his back. However before it could get up to continue attacking Rayden, a sword swung out of nowhere and stabbed the undead creature in the chest. He looked up to see Jai and in the background the second Shadow Priest withering and dematerializing behind her. He looked back to find the other at his feet doing the same, what undead supposedly could not do: die.

The cat's worried mind-voice once again entered his mind, _-He's coming.-_

Jai quickly sheathed her sword as she reached a hand down and helped pull Rayden to his feet.

"Listen, we have only a second," she looked into his eyes pleadingly, "Do you trust me?"

Rayden had no other choice, "Yes."

Jai'eesh turned away with him, her hand still clasped on his arm as she braced herself, "Hold on then."

Rayden felt a huge energy surge go through them as the room spun around making him sick with vertigo as he could suddenly feel his brother like he was standing right next to him. Then everything stopped spinning as he found himself not in some random hallway in the Black Tower, but standing before Shao Khan's immense throne. He looked around as he thought he was hallucinating, but it was indeed the throne room, and the portal back to Earth Realm was right across the room from where he was standing. And on top of that, not a soul was even in the room, save for himself, Jai'eesh, and her cat.

Again he found himself just staring at Jai'eesh, who was grinning, "Wow it worked."

"What did you do?"

"The exact moment S felt that Shao Khan guy come at us, I reached out and accessed the same route he was using to get to us. Basically when he came to confront us, he also unknowingly pulled us to where he came from. Like a backward catapult," she nodded as if she was just sounding it out for the first time ever.

Somehow it made sense though, "Like reverse transportation. How many times have you done that before?"

_-That was the first time,-_ the cat sighed, _-And it better be the last too!-_

Jai was still smiling, "Oh, I like that. Reverse Transportation'," she mused to herself.

_-Oh thanks a lot, you helped her name it too.-_

Rayden looked back over to the portal, "Oh who cares, cat. Let's just get back to Earth Realm," he said as he started out for it.

So close, but oh so far, as before he even took one step, someone started clapping. And laughing. All too familiar laughter. He turned to see Jai'eesh standing there, the smile gone as she looked like she was about to kill someone, and that someone was standing in a doorway to their right.

There stood Shao Khan, smiling behind the grotesque skull mask he always wore, but he wasn't looking at Rayden. His burning demonic eyes were locked on with Jai'eesh's.

"Welcome. I've been waiting for you."


	11. 1:10 Facing the Demon

It was all too surreal as the man in the doorway just stood there for a while. It seemed like an eternity actually as time stopped for Jai'eesh as she studied the thing standing there before her. He was an impressive figure, all black armor covering his entire body, spikes and jagged edges sticking out from all of it but his head. On his head he just wore a simple mask made up of some poor unfortunate soul's skull. It fit him perfectly, but she could still see his crooked smile underneath, and those burning demonic eyes of his. Jai snapped back to reality when she locked her eyes with his and didn't look away, but that just seemed to please him more. A sickening feeling washed over her as she realized who this Shao Khan reminded her of _Loki_ And at that thought she just got pissed off, and didn't hesitate to let it show in her eyes as she kept glaring at the demonic God.

"I'm impressed," the creature spoke as he stared to walk towards her, "It took me a while but I finally figured it out."

He slowly started to circle Jai'eesh from a distance as he looked her over like she was some new piece of exquisite art he wished to purchase. Jai felt waves of purest hate and oddly enough desire as well radiating from the man in the skull mask. Oddly enough Jai noticed that this Shao Kahn completely ignored Rayden behind her as he was still on the dais to the throne. Apparently Khan didn't think Rayden was much of a threat.

"I suppose in my haste to eliminate all my enemies I forgot the one thing that the Earth herself could throw at me. Although I must admit, you are a most welcome surprise in this," he circled closer, so much so that Jai could feel his hot breath on her neck, "I didn't know that the Earth's ultimate weapon could come in such a pleasing package. I'm so glad Gaia finally perfected her Avis."

His fingertips shot out and caressed her chin lovingly as Jai considered biting them off. Her eyes turned into slits, but she did not break eye contact with him.

"Her perfect assassin," he whispered, still smiling at her, but then he turned and noticed Rayden behind her looking quite shocked, "Ah, so you didn't know _brother_."

_-Brother? Brother?-_ S whispered in her mind, just as equally shocked by the revelation, _-Wonderful, this just keeps getting better and better.-_

Yet Khan wasn't done yet, "Which makes me wonder, if you have even known what she really was, would you have sought out her help so willingly? It's your duty as a Realm Protector to kill Gaia's Avis' when they appear, as per the orders of the Elder Gods."

Jai finally broke eye contact with Khan as she turned her head ever so slightly toward Rayden staring at him now out of the corner of her eye. She mouthed the words Realm Protector' to herself silently knowing all too well what that actually meant. S went wild with the realization as well, they both knew now, Rayden was a God.

Rayden avoided Jai's eyes at first as he defiantly stared at Shao Khan, "When have you ever cared about the decrees of the Elder Gods?" he snapped.

Then Rayden quick shot her a glance as he mentally added, _-Don't listen to him, he's trying to throw us off guard by messing with our minds. He's trying to divide us.-_

_-Shut up God!-_ S screamed back at him_, -We don't need any of your kind's advise!-_

Jai looked away from him, not responding as her soul was in turmoil, but she silenced S with a thought as she didn't need him screaming in her head as well. She locked eyes again with Khan as he then turned his attention to the feline _Nightmare_.

"And what amazing toys you have Avis, a powerful undead creature under your complete control, you, armed with a soul blade, and to top it off you have such refined control over your own powers you make us Gods look sloppy in comparison."

"Speak for yourself Khan." Rayden growled.

The demon ruler of Outworld spun suddenly decking Rayden in the face, knocking him down, "I will have silence! Especially from those who have no powers!" he roared, but then he started to laugh again, "You didn't see that amazing job she did to my portal into Earth Realm, but I'm quite sure you did notice how she almost took down my tower."

He swung around again, the smile gone, as he found Jai with her sword drawn.

He looked thoughtful for a moment as he studied her odd Japanese katana sword, "Hmm, is that the same sword that drove Uther Pendrag mad?"

"What?" Jai just whispered sarcastically, "Don't tell me you Gods can't keep all of Earth's souls blades straight?"

Shao Khan just pulled out his own huge broadsword from mind-air as he smiled at her yet again, eyes blazing, "That's what I thought. All banter aside though, normally this is where I make you an offer to join me, but I know being Gaia's Avis – _Assassin_ – you cannot. Thus, I'm going to be generous and just kill you since I know that's the only way to free your soul of her," 

He came closer to her again, whispering in her ear, "Maybe after I'll put your soul into a new body so you can be my new assassin and maybe more."

Suddenly Shao Khan leapt back from Jai in pain as he found a ceramic throwing dagger sticking out of one of his arms as blood welled out of the wound. Rayden looked up in time to see it as well, but not the throw, it seemed like Jai had never moved at all. However, a cruel smile was now on her face as she began to laugh as well, like she had gone completely insane. When she looked up again, both Rayden and Khan saw her eyes were no longer their regular hazel-brown, but instead they were the eyes of a cat's, and glowing an unnatural color of yellow.

"Fool," she snarled in-between the laughter, "You're no God, just some moron with too much power and delusions of grandeur. And I should know, since I _have_ killed Gods before. How the hell do you think I've survived this long? No Avis has ever lived to be my age, let alone of my power. So Shao Khan, do you think you have what it takes to defeat a mature Avis of Gaia?"

Khan ripped the dagger out of his arm as he answered with a roar swinging his sword through the air aiming for Jai'eesh's head. A loud clang rang out in the Khan's throne room as Jai blocked his sword with her own, the battle begun.

Jai started swearing softly under her breath as she deflected his incoming attacks, realizing how insanely strong Khan really was. Trading blows with him was like trying to derail a speeding bullet train with one's bare hands, and Gaia only knew Jai was not Superman here. However the one thing she did notice about Khan was that his incredible strength did come at a price, he wasn't the most graceful with his footwork, nor the speediest. _Time to change tactics_, Jai thought to herself as she poured on the speed and agility with her moves. Being the smaller of the two, and the one with the lighter sword, she nimbly avoided many of his attacks. However the ones she couldn't anticipate she made sure the angles he would come in at her were to her advantage, his incoming sword sliding off of hers while she got inside his defenses nailing him in the gut with the pommel of her sword handle.

He just grunted as he stumbled back a bit, which gave Jai just enough time to reorient herself so that she could rush him. She knew he'd see her coming a mile away and that's what she wanted as he too started to rush her in return seeing the place she left open on herself for him to target. The split second before his sword pierced Jai's chest, she planted a foot and spun to his side her sword slicing through his mask and hitting flesh underneath. Khan roared in pain as Jai started cussing again as she had meant to slice his neck open, not his face. The two squared off again, just standing there watching each other warily. Blood poured down Khan's face, the gash in his mask and face staring right behind his left eye. Jai noted in satisfaction that she had almost taken both his eye and his ear in one stroke, but the triumphant feeling vanished as she realized he would now be doubly cautious in letting her get that close again.

However he simply stood up as he reached up and touched his new wound and just smiled to himself. Suddenly out of the corner of Jai's eye she saw black shadows circle around the two of them with blinding speed.

_-S!-_ she mentally cried out as she saw the Shadow Priests move in on her, and she knew she couldn't fend off both Khan and his undead creations.

_-I'm on it!-_ was the heartening reply as her _Nightmare_ cat sprung into action.

She saw S's small feline form change as he rushed a pack of Shadow Priests; a huge humanoid cat creature started ripping through them like a tornado. His claws and teeth had the same properties as her own soul blade as the wounded Shadow Priests started to turn to ash in his wake. True Mr. S was a menace to these creatures, although the one thing the Shadow Priests had on their side were the sheer numbers of them, which they were doing a fine job of bogging S down. They had already swarmed all over Rayden too as Jai found him directly behind Khan fighting for his life against the black-robed things.

Her attention snapped back to Khan as he now smiled at her, full of spite and glee at the situation. She stood up as well, swinging her sword into her left hand behind her as more ceramic daggers materialized into her hand, in-between her fingers. She made sure Khan had enough time to see them as she threw them right at him. He avoided them easily, but he was never her real target. The daggers landed exactly where she wanted them, as they made a sickening thud sound in the backs of the Shadow Priests' heads that were attacking Rayden. They screamed, tearing at the daggers in their heads, but it was too late as they too became nothing more than ash as well. 

Of course, in throwing the daggers at Khan, Jai had also successfully herded him where she could quickly attack him again, this time with all her power behind her sword. She grinned wildly as the demonic God spun, barely blocking her sword in time. She was the one on the attack now as her moves kept getting faster and faster

Rayden was trying to fend off six Shadow Priests when they suddenly stopped and withered right before his eyes. He saw six ceramic daggers clatter to the floor, a few of them shattering since ceramics were very brittle, but they held an edge that no metal sword could hold a candle to. Rayden picked one up as he noticed the unbroken ones still had auras' around them, probably a spell for killing undead. Rayden saw another Shadow Priest out of the corner of his eye rush him as he swung around, gutting the thing with the dagger. It shrieked and dissipated like the others before it. Now with a weapon he could inflict damage on the Shadow Priests with he went to work, bringing to bare all of his formidable fighting skills he had honed over the centuries on the undead creatures. However he knew he was still outnumbered even though he saw the _Nightmare_ cat of Jai'eesh's ripping through them across the room from him. 

And in-between them were Jai'eesh and Shao Khan, both fighting like absolute demons. Rayden had to hand it to Jai'eesh, her skills with a sword were superb as she was giving Khan quite a run for his money. Her long, red-brown hair swirled around her like a cloud as her attacks seemed to come from nowhere, but he did notice something alarming about her, and it wasn't her glowing eyes. Every attack she made was just a fraction slower than the last. She had sped up, but it seemed her stamina was very, very slowly giving out. The problem was, if he had noticed it, Khan would be noticing it very shortly. Taking out another Shadow Priest without even noticing, he tried to think of what he could do. Jai'eesh may be the Avis of the soul of the Earth, but she was mortal and she was getting tired and Khan was far from even breaking a sweat. He was only armed with a small ceramic dagger, and not much else. Even though some of his powers had returned to him, he certainly didn't have enough to go toe to toe with Khan, not for long anyway. He quickly slew another Shadow Priest when he saw it, the portal to Earth Realm, still open and unguarded.

Right then, he felt something brush up against his back, and when he spun he found the huge cat-like creature that Mr. S had turned into to battle the masses of undead staring at him with those huge yellow-green eyes of his. 

_-Hi,-_ the _Nightmare_ greeted him, _-Behind you.-_

With that, the thing jumped over Rayden in a single bound and landed on two Shadow Priests behind him, ripping them to shreds, well ashes really, with his claws and teeth. Rayden also found a couple of them coming in on him, this time armed with spears as he nimbly avoided the points following the spear shafts up to their owners and then dispatching with them. After that he found himself back to back with S as he noted how close he was to the portal's opening. He looked back to the battle between Jai'eesh and Khan as Jai'eesh was still giving Khan hell, but he guessed it wouldn't be too long before the visible signs of Jai'eesh's exhaustion would start to show.

"S, do you mind covering me while I make a break for the portal?" Rayden asked, although in his mind it wasn't really a question.

The response he got was not what he was hoping for, _-Bastard! Coward!-_ the cat fumed, _-You just want to run away and leave her to die! Fucking opportunistic Gods!-_

"That's not it!" Rayden countered, "If I can get back to Earth Realm, I can recharge my powers and get back here to help Jai win this fight! I promise I'll return, I swear!"

The humanoid cat monster just roared at him, but another voice prevailed in both their minds, _-Let him go S.-_

He looked to the main fight to see Jai and Khan with swords locked, but her eyes weren't on Khan, but on Rayden. For some reason the look in her eyes took his breath away, but the cat-monster grabbed him and shook him out of his stupor and locked eyes with him.

_-If you do not come back, if you do leave her here to die, I promise I will haunt you for the rest of my existence and make you miserable for eternity. Do you understand me?-_

"Perfectly."

The _Nightmare_ released him, as it turned back to the onslaught of Shadow Priests, holding them back for Rayden's escape. 

"Thank you," Rayden whispered as he took off for the portal.

He never looked back as he ran full tilt through the portal's dark corridor until he reached the other side at the altar in Khan's hidden city in Earth Realm. _Earth Realm_. Rayden fell to his knees, arms spread wide as he called his full powers to him in as an insane display of lighting that swallowed him whole. Merging with the power like no other creature could in the universe, he became a living lighting bolt as he reformed, eyes glowing. He turned back to the portal, energy crackling and hissing in the air around him.

He thought of Siro, Taja, and especially of Kung Lao as he spoke, "Khan you are going to die, and I don't care what the Elder Gods say."

In a flash he was gone, though the portal again, but this time with murder on his mind.


	12. 1:11 Light and Darkness

Two sets of demonic eyes flashed in the darkness; one set blazing like the fires of hell, the second glowing like a full moon on a hazy night. Two silvery blades slid through the darkness, ringing out when they found one another, other times they made the air sing when they missed. These were the only things Shao Khan and Jai'eesh saw; only these things existed right now.

He knew she was tiring, as he swung his huge blade with effortless ease, yet she still managed to stay out of its path. Foolish mortal that she was she had no idea he was far, far from even remotely being winded as his fluid body movements gave evidence that he was now in his fighting prime. He felt his insane grin spreading further across his face as he watched her scramble more and more to block his blows instead of testing his defenses. While he was extremely exhilarated at having to fight this rare creature, a very small part of him was growing sad as the fact this battle was inevitably drawing to a close as he didn't get too many decent attempts on his life anymore…

She knew she was tiring as she managed yet again to make his huge blade glance off her smaller one, saving her leg from nearly getting hacked off. He was getting overconfident in his fight with her now as she noted his gloating grin getting larger at an exponential rate. Her mind whorled as it multitasked, one part analyzing Khan's movements looking for a possibly weakness to exploit, the other valiantly trying to keep Jai's head still attached to her neck. Suddenly her observations paid off as it dawned on her Khan kept repeating one particular movement that she could finally exploit. She kept her eyes guarded not to reveal the hope rising in her that she might actually walk away from this fight, but now came the real hard part, testing her hypothesis and exploiting the chink in his armor…

He was finally losing patience with female assassin as his pleasure in the fight became fleeting when the girl had suddenly gained a second wind as he easily blocked another oddly aimed feint on his right side. His smile was waning yet he was far from worried that she's actually best him, but it looked as if she might be able to drag this fight out for longer than he had first believed. How annoying. Well best end the fight now and show her who the superior fighter was as a renewed smirk appeared once more on his masked face and he prepared to teleport…

She was finally feeling a small resurgence in her confidence as she quickly mounted a new volley of attacks that had wiped that smug look right off his face. However that didn't last forever for as soon as she finished her last movement she saw that arrogant look of his come right back. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, but not from his leering gaze but from the strange wave of apprehension flooding through her body. Suddenly he was gone as her eyes dilated in fear, but before she even had time to think she let her body react, instantly throwing her sword over her head just in time to block his incoming blade meant to cleave her head in two. She used the energy from the force of his blow to propel herself in a roll away from him and turned quickly on the balls of her feet to face him once more in a guarded crouch. Then it was her turn to smirk as he had unknowingly just given her to means to distract him enough so she could finally execute her plan…

With a grunt of annoyance he withdrew his blade in what he had assumed would have at least wounded her, but sadly she was still obnoxiously quite whole as he noticed that now she too had a smile dancing on her lips. Then, just like he had done a moment before, she disappeared on him! That bitch had somehow leaned to teleport! He only had a split second to block to his left as the sound of daggers whistling through the air was his only warning of her attack. He blocked several of her ceramic projectiles with his sword yet a wet thud and searing pain in his left thigh alerted him to the agonizing fact he had missed one as he let out a roar of pain. He didn't even bother pulling in out as the girl was giving him no time by charging him head on while he was somewhat distracted…

Then he saw his chance to be rid of her as he dragged his sword across the floor before arching it up…

Then she saw her chance as his weakness gave her the opportunity to strike with her flashing blade…

Rayden ran like there was no tomorrow, which scarily enough was still a dangerously real possibility. The tatters of what remained of his clothing and dirty hair whipped around him as he moved at inhuman speeds back through the portal wrenched open between Earth Realm and Outworld. He could have reformed his appearance when he recharged back in his home Realm, but honestly he had more important fish to fry – literally. He just hoped he didn't get there too late as thoughts of Siro, Taja and Kung Lao flashed into his mind, their needless deaths still burning in his heart. No one else had to die today if he could help it – the obvious exception to that being Shao Khan of course.

He didn't have much of a plan at the moment, only to get back in time to help Jai'eesh, beat the living crap out of Khan in the process and then escape with the woman back to Earth Realm to warn the Elder Gods before his powers left him again. He hoped he remembered correctly how long it had taken in his earlier fight with Khan for him to lose his powers. In Mortal Kombat, if you didn't learn quickly from your mistakes you died of them even faster. Finally after what had seemed like an eternity even to an immortal such as he, Rayden reached the portal's outlet into Khan's throne room in Outworld. There the scene he beheld was unreal. It was if time had suddenly stopped dead as nothing was moving in the cavernous room, the Shadow Priests paralyzed, all staring at the likewise frozen two familiar figures in the middle of the room.

Bile rose in his throat and burned his tongue at the sight of Jai'eesh and Shao Khan standing there, eyes locked on each other, faces locked in grim determination, swords… Swords lodged in each other's bodies'. Khan's larger broadsword had finally managed to get inside as it was now partially lodged in the woman's midsection as his deathblow to cleave her in twain stopped short for some reason. As Rayden's eyes moved up and over Jai'eesh's body he saw why Khan had stopped as the warrior woman's own sword was buried hilt deep in his chest, right through the heart.

Time decided it had enough of standing still, but it had not regained full strength as the gruesome scene commenced in slow motion as both Khan and Jai'eesh ripped their weapons free of each other and fell backwards away from each other from the effort in a spray of blood. That final movement seemed to shock everyone out of their stupors as all hell broke loose. An inhuman howl echoed out as a gray blur threw Shadow Priests from its path as the blur caught Jai'eesh before she hit the ground revealing it to be her monstrous feline companion Mr. S. The Shadow Priests did not do the same for their fallen master as they instead decided to go for the easy kill as they practically fought with one another to get to the _Nightmare_ and his wounded bonded to finish them off.

Rayden was there before the Shadow Priests got to the undead cat and his mistress as relays of chain lightning violently spread through the Shadow Priests' numbers in the deadly dance of wild electrons emanating from him. The Thunder God smiled bitterly as he let loose his formidable powers on the foul creatures reducing them to ash in his wake. He stopped short abruptly as out of the corner of his eye he caught the sight of a bloodied broadsword arching through the air toward him. He caught the flat of Khan's blade expertly between his hands as with a wicked grin and lightning dancing in his eyes Rayden flooded electricity down the metal sword into it's bearer with no remorse. Khan screamed as the sword literally jumped out of his smoldering hands, the ruler of Outworld falling to his knees hugging his now useless upper appendages to his bleeding chest.

"Who's the weak pathetic fool now, eh?" The Thunder God spat at Shao Khan in utter contempt.

Khan flailed and fell again moaning in agony, but Rayden wasn't satisfied in the least as he grabbed his estranged brother as lightning dance around them both, pain for one and payback for the other. He would carve his fallen friend's names into Khan's soul before sending it to hell where it belonged.

Jai lay there in S's arms in the most curious haze. She could feel her life force ebbing steadily out of her from the huge gaping wound on her right side, but she felt very little pain. Somehow her right brain put together enough of a thought to produce: _Why do paper cuts hurt so damn much and this doesn't?_ Then she found herself randomly humming The Beatle's Yellow Submarine and agreeing with the fact that everyone did in fact live in a Yellow Submarine under the sea. Or was it a pineapple? Man, the moments before one's demise were one hell of a trip, too bad it was terminal.

Her dilated pupils rolled around in their sockets as they finally rested on the sight of what she thought was her blood pooling on the ground. It had to be her blood as S didn't bleed and Khan was getting himself electrocuted at the moment somewhere off behind her as she could hear his screams accompanied by the smell of burnt flesh and ozone. _Pity I'm missing it_, she thought as normally she'd love to watch two stupid Divinities go at it as such instances usually made her life a whole hell of a lot easier.

Unfortunately she couldn't get her eyes off her own blood as her left brain made resurgence, not letting her right brain have all the fun before they both conked out for good. _Red… Red…_ The color was triggering a memory, a memory of a time not too long ago. _Time… Red…_

Then it hit her as the haze lifted as she now knew why Gaia had sent her here. Suddenly it was like there was no river of blood flowing out of her, no cavernous hole in her right side, there was only the end of the mission and she knew what she had to do.

"S," she spoke through sluggish lips.

_-Don't speak, save your energy.-_ His gentle mind voice sounded desperate to Jai.

"S, give me the crystal and get me to the portal now."

At first he didn't respond but when his yellow-green eyes met hers he knew just as she knew what they had to do now to end this mess. He reached into her blood-stained pack and pulled out the large red crystal they had risked so much for. S slipped it into his bonded's numb hands as he stood up with her cradled in his massive forearms and when unhindered towards the portal's maw. Thankfully the portal was that far away as he set her down and propped her up into a sitting position before the egress to Earth Realm – their home. S then started the spell as he took some of her blood and drew a circle around them both with it as Jai held the crystal out before her.

She could now see with eyes so clear that only those on the verge of death seem to gain the strands of time itself in the weaves of the powerful blood magic that had created the portal in the first place. She used the crystal as a focus on the portal as she single-mindedly started to weave the portal's threads through magic powered solely by her own depleting life-force, her free flowing blood. The crystal started to unfold itself as it spewed forth intense white light while the portal started to twist into itself like a piece of M. C. Escher's art. Then she realized that she needed one more component to execute the completed spell and that's when she slowly turned her head away from the light as her clouding eyes landed on the only person who could fulfill that position and save them all. Put things back to the way they were supposed to be. She hoped he'd realize it before it was too late.

Shao Khan lay there before Rayden's feet in a broken, burnt and bloody pile. Khan was still alive, but barely as his labored, rasping breathing echoed eerily in the throne room. Rayden stared at his defeated brother as long buried memories resurfaced of a time so similar to this one, when Rayden first defeated Khan centuries ago for the position of prestige of heir apparent for their family's title. Just like then, misgivings arose within the Thunder God about extinguishing his sibling's life.

"You still can't do it, can you?" Khan barely managed to choke out through a destroyed face.

Yet Rayden didn't hear Kahn's taunt as this time the misgivings were easily silenced at the thought of Siro, Taja and Kung Lao laying dead in Earth Realm. Granted they had known the risks of fighting for Earth Realm, but they didn't deserve the deaths they had received in the end. He allowed the darkness of vengeance swallow his heart whole as it softened the pain and made it so much easier to perform his signature finishing move.

However Khan had gone very silent, his one good eye bulging at something behind him, but Rayden didn't care as he bent over to pick him up one last time…

"You stupid bitch!" Khan croaked more than he screamed still looking behind Rayden, "Soon I'll be dead, Rayden will have his revenge and you will have failed! Gaia take your worthless soul!"

Then Rayden became aware of a growing white light with the sense of extremely powerful magic going on behind him as he now turned toward it and Jai'eesh's doings. His eyes met hers as the darkness receded from his heart as he knew he'd seen that look in her eyes before. Right before he had escaped to Earth Realm and it was then he realized the opportunity she was throwing her life away to give him that he would have missed if he had wasted time killing Khan. He stood up and walked toward her, shielding his eyes with his hands from the searing light.

"No! Kill me you fool! NO! Get back here and finish this once and for all you weak…"

"No," Rayden cut Khan's rasping screams off with his own booming, yet tired voice, "No, because there is always another way than revenge to right I wrong and I had almost forgotten that."

With that said, Rayden went to Jai'eesh sat down behind her wrapping his arms around her. He flooded what power he had left into her and subsequently her spell until the light swallowed them both as they knew nothing more of that reality…


	13. The Fourth Dimension

_He felt like he was falling, but he felt no air rush around him, nor could her hear the whistling of the air. Then it dawned on him, he couldn't hear anything period. He tried to open his eyes, but as he raised a hand to his face to feel for potential problems he felt that his eyes were already open to begin with. For quite a while he was completely at a loss for where he was as panic slowly spread through his soul. Then a final, dreaded though caressed his tired mind;_ Am I dead?

_Slowly, slowly he realized he was not alone in this dark void as he felt something brush against his fingertips. He grabbed on to it to discover in was someone's wrist as he pulled the arm connected to the wrist to him, as he felt a woman's body brush up against his. Both of his hands searched over the warm body as he finally realized just who it was._

"Jai'eesh…"

_His voice was instantly swallowed by the nothingness, yet it had somehow caused the young woman in his arms to stir. Suddenly light blazed up around him as he gasped in surprise and pain, squinting his eyes which were unaccustomed to the blinding light. The light died down as he could finally see that they were still floating in a black void, one that absorbed what little light that the duo was now, somehow giving off. He looked to Jai'eesh and found her completely different from what he remembered her to look like earlier. Her clothing was ghostly, at time completely opaque. Her skin looked like glass, no, crystal, yet was still as soft and warm as normal skin. Her hair was still its original red-brown color although more gold could be seen in it now, which did look very odd, but the real oddities were what were coming out of her back and the source of the light. There were two sets of glowing wings, one pair angelic and feathered like a birds', the other pair devilish looking more like something a bat would sport. _

Rayden.

_He tensed when the name echoed in his mind._

Rayden, you are Rayden.

_Confused as to who was trying to talk to him for Jai'eesh remained seemingly unconscious despite his efforts to wake her, he finally looked up – or what he thought was up in this directionless realm to a new source of light in the void. There he found two blazing suns, no, eyes, they were actually someone's eyes. He had seen them before, but now he knew who they belonged to – Gaia, soul of the Earth._

You must choose.

"What?" _he tried to speak again, but he heard nothing as once again the void stole his voice although he made it clear he did not understand her meaning._

You must choose, _the bodiless voice spoke again and when it did so it felt like someone was taking his mind painfully apart._

_More things started appearing in the darkness, or they had left the void, Rayden could not be sure which as he beheld a sight very few beings ever got to witness let alone comprehend. The darkness was dispelled by new light, long thin strands of it, twisting, forming great knots, splitting from one another, undulating like they were alive. Somehow he knew this wasn't light but time itself in a manifestation he could now fathom._

_They were the forth dimension floating through the past, present and possible futures… Paths not taken, but taken in other strands… Happenings that haven't taken place yet, but had already happened or not happened elsewhere… Possibilities that no one had realized yet already unfolding the gossamer threads of reality…_

_It overwhelmed him as he quickly looked away, back to something tangible, something he knew was real as he stared into Jai'eesh's unconscious face. Then he saw the glowing crystal still in her grasp as he finally understood Gaia's words. He had the chance to set this whole mess right, choose a new path where once again his beloved mortals could choose the future for themselves…_

_With this prayer in his heart he closed a hand around the crystal and Jai'eesh's hand as he held her close…_

I choose to go back… To before it all fell apart on me so I can set it right again…


	14. 2:1 Back to Reality

Hey folks - Jai'byrd here - sorry it's been so long since the last installment of this story as I had two more chapters written out on paper, but no time to type them up! So here's Chapter 12 at long last and I hope you enjoy it as the story is by no means anywhere near finished. A word to the wise though as for those of you who have no seen Mortal Kombat Conquest (on which this fanfic is based), I start referring to what happened in the last two to three episodes of the series before it was cut, which were (in order) "Balance of Power", "Stolen Lies" and "Vengeance" more and more (The events happening with Kreeya's army specifically).With that said, enjoy, and _please, please, please_, feel free to leave **reviews** as they spur me on – and I could really use the encouragement right now or I might never get this dang fanfic done so I can move on to a more modern MK one… .

"_Rayden…?"_

………

"Rayden?"

It was like waking up from an extremely vivid dream where one momentarily questions the fact if one was still dreaming or now back in reality. His mind still hazy, Rayden questioned his 'reality' as his eyes unfocused and refocused as a kindly, concerned voice called out his name. An extremely familiar voice that somehow comforted his aching heart…

Suddenly reality slammed into his consciousness like two trains colliding at top speed as the dazed Thunder God looked up into his Champion Kung Lao's confused face – Kung Lao's _still alive_, confused face.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Rayden boomed as he sprang catching a very startled Kung Lao in a huge embrace, exuberant joy radiating from him like a heater set on high.

As he did so he felt something rather large and heavy fall of his lap and land on the ground with quite an audible "Oof!" Rayden looked down to see an also very startled, albeit very disgruntled, scantily clad barmaid on her rump on the floor. Then it hit Rayden where he was – back in Zhu-Zin's best Tavern (the one with the best looking and loose barmaids anyway) where he had been interrupted from having a little "down time" by Kung Lao. He had done it! He had gone back in time!

"Sorry," he mumbled a quick apology to the beautiful blond on the floor, but then turned back to his confused Champion and grabbed him by the shoulders as he was more interested in seeing Kung Lao now anyway, "Is Siro and Taja okay? Have you been to that city in the mountains yet? Kahn hasn't launched his attack already has he?"

Kung Lao was obviously not ready for Rayden's rapid fire questions as he slowly answered eyeing Rayden like he was some mad-man and not his divine mentor he had known all his life, "They're at the Trading Post… Uh, they're fine… No, we haven't gone anywhere lately… As far as I know Kahn hasn't done anything big yet…"

Then Rayden became all too aware of the fact that now everyone in the Tavern was staring at the two embracing men and the fuming barmaid behind them. Good thing Rayden was a God and really didn't care (actually he did) or this would have been a very awkward moment for him (which it was, but he wasn't going to admit that), although he had a sneaking suspicion that Kung Lao did not feel the same way.

The Thunder God dropped his Champion rather quickly as he glanced about with a stern face, which made everyone but the miffed Bar-maid go back to minding their own business, "Do you mind," Rayden said rather pointedly at the angry woman, "Giving my friend here and I a moment alone?"

"_FINE!_" the barmaid snarled with such a ferocious look in her eyes that Rayden deduced that he shouldn't come back to this particular Tavern any time this century as she stomped off to the back of the bar.

Finally after a long moment of silence while Rayden's mind drifted a bit, Kung Lao spoke up, "Rayden, are you okay?" The warrior-monk now showing not only confusion, but concern for his friend and mentor.

"Never better," Rayden exclaimed brightly as he smiled broadly at Kung Lao, gaining the Thunder God another look like the mortal thought Rayden was nuts. The God was rather happy he was back and that the nightmare of earlier events was no more… Or was it?

It dawned on Rayden now that he had to prevent those events from happening now or they would more than likely happen all over again. His eyebrows nit together in thought at he quickly ran through his mind what had to be done to stop the nightmare-like future he had just escaped from happening this time around. After a second of this he grabbed Kung Lao again, this time more slowly and gently.

"Kung Lao," he spoke, his tone grave, "I'm sorry is I startled you and I know this is going to sound really weird, but I need you, Siro and Taja to lock up the Trading Post and high-tail it to the Temple of Light as fast as humanly possible and stay there until I come for you guys."

It was amazing to watch Kung Lao go from a general state of confusion to an absolute, five-alarm state of confusion, but Rayden wished sometimes mortals didn't question everything as his Champion slowly answered with, "May I ask why?"

Rayden let go of Kung Lao as he sighed wanting so much to reply with 'Because I said so!' but he knew that really never worked on older mortals, pity that.

"Kahn is about to invade Earth," Rayden looked quite wearied as he continued, "I think he's found a loop-hole in the rules of Mortal Kombat thanks to Kreeya's forces still being based somewhere here on Earth Realm. I need to get to the Elder Gods and let them know what's going on while I still can."

Kung Lao's expressive eyes filled with concern and an obvious need to do his duty, "But surely if Siro, Taja and I go find and destroy Kreeya's base here he won't have a reason anymore."

Rayden bit his lip in frustration, "I don't think that's going to stop him this time, I think this situation has gotten too big for either of us to handle, that's why I need you and the others to get to the Temple and wait while I go to the Elders. I fear only they can stop Kahn's plans now, so please leave Zhu-Zin and stay put at the Temple until I get back. Just trust me on this as Kahn's not playing by the rules and will use this opportunity to take you out along with Kreeya's forces, so you cannot take that bait."

Rayden saw the distress in his Champions eyes', knowing full well Kung Lao did not want to run away like a dog with its tail between its legs, but then again Rayden couldn't bear to lose his mortal friends all over again either. However something passed between the god and his chosen mortal on a level most couldn't comprehend as realization sunk into Kung Lao as to how dire the situation was and some Rayden's feelings for him on a vague level.

He smiled his soft, caring smile and nodded, "I'll go get Siro and Taja and we'll head for the Temple this afternoon."

Rayden closed his eyes in gratitude toward his mortal friend as Kung Lao patted the God's shoulder then took off toward the Trading Post as fast as his feet could take him through Zhu-Zin's busy streets. Rayden sighed once more as a wave of temporary relief passed through is old soul until he looked out of the corner of his eye…

He did a double-take at first to make sure he wasn't hallucinating as there on the table he had previously sat at was a ghost. Not just any ghost either, but of a large grey housecat with glowing yellow-green eyes looking directly at the Thunder God. Rayden looked around and quickly deduced that he was the only one in the busy Tavern that could see the ghost-cat.

_-About damn time you noticed me too,-_ Mr. S's familiar and eerie mind-voice resonated in his head alone, _-She needs you…-_

"She? She wh…" then Rayden realized who exactly S was taking about and opened himself to the _Nightmare_ cat, "Jai'eesh! Where is she?"

Instantly Rayden's mind was flooded with images of a field he knew of near his Temple that was mixed in with abject fear and extreme urgency. With that done, S looked rather fatigued as he simply vanished from the God's view. Not missing the point of the fear-filled message, Rayden didn't waste time as he teleported instantly to the field he recognized from S. There he whorled about looking around frantically but found the waste-high grass in the field obscuring anything from view.

"Jai'eesh?" Rayden called out tensely remembering now how bad the wounds that Kahn's sword had inflicted on her were.

Then, a whisper tickled his mind, _-To your left… to your left…-_

It was S's mind-voice again, but the thing that sent shivers down the God's spine was the fact that the _Nightmare's_ voice was fading like he was dying himself. Since he knew S was already dead, then the cat's apparent weakness had to be a reflection of how poor Jai's condition was considering how they were linked to each other. This realization added a new dimension of fear and urgency to Rayden's actions as he waded through the tall grass, searching, searching. Finally he saw something in the grass up ahead glinting in the afternoon's bright sunlight. He fell to his knees before a prone woman heaped upon the ground in front of him, but no relief was to be had by just finding her when his eyes landed on Jai'eesh.

She was lying on her right side, her back to him, but it was instantly recognizable that she was not sleeping peacefully. Her skin was so gaunt and pale, her lips blue as her peered over her side that Rayden thought he had reached her too late, yet thankfully his divine abilities could see that she was still somehow clinging to life. His right hand braced her back as he rolled her over gently with his left, but when he withdrew his right arm that had slid underneath her, it was covered with her crimson-red blood. Letting out a slew of curses, he ripped up the hem of his clothing and began to try to stop the flow of what little blood was left in her out of the huge gaping wound down her right side. Time passed unnoticed as he finally stemmed the blood flow enough so that he could move her. He paused momentarily to regroup mentally before he hoisted her into his now blood-stained arms and teleported with her to the Temple of Light.

He scared the living daylights out of the monk working in the Temple's infirmary when he reappeared in a clap of thunder, but the monk quickly came to his senses when he saw the dying woman in his patron God's arms. Rayden watched the monk run off to fetch more senior monks with medical training as he lay Jai'eesh's limp body down onto a nearby pallet. Then monks had wasted no time as they quickly returned, filing in with tubs of steaming hot water, armfuls of bandages and gleaming metal implements wrapped in sterile cloth ready for surgery. The Thunder God stepped back and out of the way as they wordlessly swarmed Jai'eesh, obscuring her from his view.

Sadness was etched into his features as he turned to a nearby monk waiting on him, "This woman was wounded in a fight with Shao Kahn to protect Earth Realm. Her name is Jai'eesh. Do what you must to save her life. Also, Kung Lao, Siro and Taja should be arriving shortly. Make rooms for them as they will be staying until I return, which may be a while."

The monk bowed when Rayden finished speaking and with a heavy heart the God left his Temple, praying that Jai'eesh would survive. His thoughts then turned back to the dire situation forming overall as he prepared for a meeting with the Elder Gods…

Meanwhile...

"So tell me why, exactly, we had to get up and leave when I was, for once, having a productive day making money?" Taja asked again for the umpteenth time as the trio of Earth Realm warriors made their way towards the Temple of Light from Zhu-Zin.

Kung Lao sighed quietly as he schooled his face to show nothing but patience as he had no answers for his friends, only questions himself. "Well, Rayden was acting rather strange, but he said Kahn was about to invade thanks to some loop-hole in the rules of Mortal Kombat thanks to Kreeya's forces being based somewhere here on Earth. He said he'd explain more when he got back from meeting with the Elder Gods."

"I don't see why we can't go in and take out Kreeya's forces ourselves," It was now Siro's turn to complain while he drank from a water skin he had brought, "I've got plenty of black powder to take out those damn hives of hers – and more."

After a chug of water he continued, "But then again, that's about as much of an explanation as any he's given us in these kinds of situations."

Kung Lao nodded silently as he too agreed with Siro about taking out Kreeya's base of operations. Yet thankfully, Siro had somewhat backed down from going against Rayden's orders of going to the Temple to instead hunt Kreeya's Earth Realm base instead when Kung Lao explained that Kahn just might be using Kreeya as an excuse to take out all his enemies in one fell swoop, them included. He had tried to impress upon both Siro and Taja how bad the situation had to be considering that Rayden was going to the Elder Gods for help – something that he knew only happened as a last resort. Hence, Siro had relented about going to the Temple instead of tearing off on his own like he would have done in a normal situation. Not that any situation of late that the three warriors faced could be considered normal anymore.

Yet the disgruntled look on Taja's face alone spoke volumes about what she thought of the situation even though both Siro and Kung Lao knew they were going to hear it verbally as well, "Great for him, but he doesn't have to worry about what's in the coffers so he can eat, now does he?" She grumbled rhetorically, stressing each 'he' to make sure her companions had no doubt of her distaste of the God.

Then she eyed Siro downing the water at an exponential rate, "Don't drink that all! Remember what happened last time!"

Siro eyed her back knowing full well to what Taja was referring to their bout of accelerated aging, "I seem to remember I wasn't the only one drinking all the water 'last time'. Anyway, I doubt it's going to happen a second time."

"Lets," Kung Lao broke in with a rather cool tone even for him, "Not take any chances, hm?"

At that Siro smiled sheepishly at Taja and Kung Lao as he quickly re-corked the water skin and dropped its strap over his shoulder. Thankfully the trio fell silent again as the rest of the trip was completed in relative silence, which left Kung Lao alone with his thoughts. After he had reached the Trading Post in which they all lived now, the warrior-monk had quickly explained what he could of the situation as he hurriedly started to pack hoping that his friends would pick up on the need to get out of there as soon as possible. With some reluctance, they followed suit, but not until Siro had left some nasty "surprises" within the locked Trading Post just in case anyone got the notion to burgle the place while they were gone. Kung Lao doubted anyone would thanks to the fact that the Trading Post, or more specifically the current residents of it, was usually under attack in one form or another and word did get around Zhu-Zin about the frequency of these occurrences. Which was why Taja had complained about leaving, it was had enough to attract customers as it was without having to pick up and leave every time Kahn threatened an invasion.

When they were finally on the road, both Taja and Siro had probed deeper into Kung Lao's meeting with Rayden as he related everything in detail. They had chalked up Rayden's weird behavior to the fact that one, he was a God and two, a weird one at that. Kung Lao however felt that there was something more to it than just Rayden's usual odd humor. Maybe it wasn't really him and an impostor? Were they headed into a trap? Yet the more Kung Lao thought about it he knew it was the one and only Rayden, but it was as if the Thunder God hadn't seen his own Champion in ages the way he greeted him at the Tavern…

Suddenly a clap of thunder made the trio jump as Kung Lao looked up to see not his divine mentor, but a summer storm fast approaching. Thankfully they were already at the Temple's entrance as they quickly ducked inside, barely missing the big fat rain drops pelting the stones of the courtyard behind them. Before either Taja or Siro could shoot off a snide comment about Rayden (even though he didn't command actual rainstorms – just thunder and lightning, but they really didn't know that) a monk walked up to greet them and help them with their things.

"Ah, welcome back Brother Lao, Brother Siro and Sister Taja. We've been expecting you." He bowed in greeting.

"Expecting us?" Kung Lao asked, bowing back, "So Rayden was here before us then?"

"Yes," the monk nodded, "The Temple's been in quite an uproar since he came as he warned us you were coming and dropped off a wounded comrade for us to take care of."

The trio instantly exchanged confused and intrigued looked before answering almost at once, "A wounded comrade?"

The talkative monk looked confused, then thoughtful, "Oh, we had all assumed she was a friend of yours, her wounds are terrible as the chief healers are keeping everyone not involved in her healing out to minimize possible infections. Some of them don't expect her to last the night with how much blood she lost."

Now it was the trio's turn to look thoughtful, "I wonder who she is," Taja whispered to herself, although the others could hear it, but were too busy with questions of their own.

"Did Rayden say how she got wounded?" Siro queried.

Then Kung Lao, "Did he say her name at least?"

"Brother Wong, who received Lord Rayden when he appeared said that he told him only that her name was Jai'eesh and that she had been wounded fighting Shao Kahn to protect Earth."

Again, the group exchanged glances as the name did not ring any bells between the Earth Realm defenders. Taja wore a mask of concern, Siro was in deep concentration and Kung Lao just looked tired. The warrior-monk wondered if the casualties in defending Earth through Mortal Kombat would ever end. The three of them had all lost too many dear friends and family members to this battle and he knew it was only the beginning for them as Rayden had tried to warn him_. If I had only listened to him_, Kung Lao thought, _I wouldn't have lost Gen…_ He closed his eyes as his heart spasmed in pain at his lost love's memory, then said a silent prayer for the wounded woman within the Temple's infirmary.

The monk sensed the gloomy atmosphere he had caused with his news, "Here, come my friends, let us get away from this rain for you arrived just in time for dinner. You must be hungry and tired, here, follow me and I'll show you to the rooms we've prepared for you."

With that he turned and led the way deeper into the Temple, not that Kung Lao needed it since he had spent all his life within these old walls, but Taja and Siro weren't that used to the place still.

Upon hearing of dinner, Taja's face went from concern to a look of tired annoyance with a sigh as he heard her mutter sarcastically, "Yay, steamed vegetables and rice. My favorite."

Kung Lao smiled at her as she stuck her tongue out with a wink as he knew she didn't share both his and his fellow monk's views on their strict vegetarian diet. Granted, she never refused food that was given freely as her former life as a wanted thief didn't allow for that kind of snobbish behavior. Yet, she like Siro, did enjoy a good side of meat with their meals back at the Trading Post. He let his friends go ahead as he hung back, finding that he was staring back out into the driving rain wondering what madness the future would have them face now. Would Rayden get to the Elder Gods in time? Would they even help, or listen for that matter? Rayden had mentioned here or there in the past that they could be very tricky to deal with, but it was only in passing, more muttering to himself than really talking to Kung Lao.

Suddenly something soft, warm and vibrating rubbed up against his leg. There his brown eyes met two huge yellow-green ones, belonging to a large, gray housecat that was wrapping itself around his legs.

"Hello there," he smiled at the cat as he bend down to scratch it on the head.

The minute he made contact with the feline all the hairs on his body stood on end in alarm. Startled by this overwhelming sense of foreboding, he kept petting the cat, more for his own reassurance as dark and uneasy thoughts swirled in the current Mortal Kombat Champion's mind…


	15. 2:2 The Contest of Wills

The Sacred Temple of the Elder Gods could not be located on any map, or discovered anywhere on the face of the Earth. The reason for this being the Temple had no physical manifestation, with the exception being its entrance from Earth Realm, but even that was constantly shifting from place to place. How Rayden always knew where the entrance had moved he had never questioned, simply believing it to have come with the territory of being a Realm Protector or that like knew simply where to find like. The entrance could literally be anywhere in the world, one time it was a small knothole in a tree, another one of the arcs of Stonehenge. This time however it had manifested quite close to Zhu-Zin as if it knew of his need. This time it was the entrance to a cave behind a waterfall.

Thus Rayden prepared himself mentally and then stepped through the waterfall cave's entrance. Now, say, if Kung Lao had tried to do the same, as a mortal he still could not access the temple by just knowing where the "entrance" was for he'd still be standing in a cave. Rayden however could ascend here, leaving the physical plane to arrive at the temple in its ethereal location, the entrance just making it easier for him to do this than what he'd have to go through on his own to reach it.

He had shed his physical appearance the moment he walked into the temple, and reverted to his natural form of living electricity. The temple itself if seen by mortal eyes just looked like a black, endless void, yet Rayden could "feel" its boundaries from that of the Ethereal that lay beyond it. He advanced to the "center" of the area and began to send a signal to the Elders respectfully wishing for this emergency meeting with them and apologizing for the inconvenience. All was done with no words, no sounds, just pure thought and energy.

Rayden was surprised that he did not have to wait long and that quite a few Elders showed up in response to his calling. Other energy manifestations winked into existence around him, but the difference between he and they resided in how huge their auras were in comparison to him, as well as the fact that some of these new entities could command more than one element whereas he only commanded the abilities of an electrical storm. It was like comparing a tiny dwarf star to the largest of the universe's blazing suns. Rayden noted who had shown up and what clan they hailed from from their "position" within the temple around him. Again, he found himself surprised at how many representatives had shown up from he different clans, as there weren't many left these days. One quadrant was empty though, the one that used to hold the Egyptian Clan, one that sent sorrow, pain and shame go coursing through him. He quickly stowed those feelings as he had a job to do and he didn't want the Elders to be kept waiting, even though time truly had no meaning to his kind.

_-Revered Elders, I thank you for heeding my call. I have come to warn you of an impending,_ illegal _invasion of Earth Realm by Shao Kahn.-_

From there he launched into describing the city Shao Kahn had set up in Earth Realm and how he had created a staging base for an invasion under all of their noses. As Rayden finished the place exploded into conversation between the Elders. Accusations and denials flew back and forth, as well as at Rayden, which was not unexpected with news like this.

Just when he was loosing hope of ever getting to prove his information was true, a voice boomed out above the din, _-BE SILENT ALL OF YOU!-_

Rayden flinched at the intensity of the command, as did quite a few others, but he recognized the voice of who said that. It was Apollo (as he was known to the mortal on Earth Realm), the current head Elder of the Greek Clan.

After everyone shut up, Apollo spoke again in a more reasonable tone, _-Now, I'm quite sure the Realm Protector here is willing to verify his information?-_

_-Yes I am.-_ Rayden replied respectfully.

With that, a lesser Elder approached him as they merged briefly, the Elder verifying that what he spoke was the truth as their energies touched and information transferred. After this was accomplished, the Elder moved away and announced his words were true and Shao Kahn had broken the laws of Mortal Kombat.

However he wasn't out of the woods just yet as a darker voice spoke up, _-May I ask how the Realm Protector how he came by this information?-_

_-Isn't it obvious?-_ Apollo nearly growled the question, obviously annoyed with the delay in discussing actions to be taken with Shao Kahn.

_-The question stands.-_ the dark voice replied.

Rayden's throat would have gone dry if he was in a physical form as he instantly recognized the dark voice. It was Anubis, as apparently the lone representative of the Egyptian Clan had decided to show up after all. Anubis outranked even Apollo on age and power considering that the Egyptian Clan had set up residence on Earth long before any of the others, thus Apollo couldn't brush off Anubis's question and move on like he wanted. Plus it was very evident to Rayden that Anubis had not forgotten about their shared past…

Unfortunately the Thunder God could not worm his way out of answering the question without loosing the respect of the other Elders of whom he needed their support. Thus he again threw himself into the tale of how this information came to pas. He held nothing back, letting his emotions color the painful story, but he did leave out mention that his only help was actually an Avis of Gaia. He finished and held his tongue while he waited for the Elder's words. It seemed like forever to him, a non-corporeal being, until they spoke next.

Finally his patience was rewarded as he received the answer he had hoped for, spoken by his own clan head, Ama-terasu.

_-Realm Protector Rayden, we thank you for your diligence and coming to warn us. We shall close the portal and deal with Shao Kahn for this transgression. You may do what you wish with his city of mortals, although we suggest you dispose of them or their taint may spread even with their city destroyed. With that said, I now adjourn this meeting of the Elders. Be well, Realm Protector and the blessing of us all are with you.-_

And with that, the Elders all winked out one by one, leaving Rayden alone in the temple. After a moment, he too tried to take his leave, but when he descended to the temple's entrance in the physical world he found he was no longer in a cave behind a waterfall…

It took him a moment to adjust as he studied his surroundings keenly. He found himself in what looked like a temple of his, only more keeping with a theme that made the temple look like it was something nature made, or rather grew, and not like the ones made by mortal hands. The wooden walls were lightly carved with lacquer, aboriginal swirls and spirals as light filtered through sliding doors and windows that only had thin paper on their frame, not glass. Swathes of silk fell from the ceiling in muted colors that best brought out the rich reds and browns from the wood it played against. He turned slowly as a feeling washed over him that he had been here before as he looked for anything familiar.

When his eyes took in the sight behind him it finally all clicked as he knew where he was, and who had brought him here. There stood a dais cut off from him by more translucent silk panels hanging down, an easy barrier to penetrate to be sure, but not one he would dare to cross ever. The reason being was in who was behind that silken barricade, as Rayden was far from alone in this nameless temple for the slight form of a woman in rich, flowing Japanese robes sat serenely. Her silver-white hair was loose and so long it could have been mistaken to be another part of her ornate clothing. Her skin was somehow both translucent and radiant, which accentuated the fact she transcended trying to place a physical age on her. Her heavy-lidded eyes had no pupils as Rayden was glad her gaze was not entirely directed at him even though it was evident her focus was on him alone somehow. This was the head Elder of his clan, the Goddess Ama-terasu.

He instantly fell to his knees and bowed so low his forehead touched the floor, the very stance Shao Kahn had tried to exact from him and very nearly succeeded in doing so.

The most musical voice then graced his hearing, "Please rise Lord Rayden."

"Elder," he spoke in response as he sat up to face her.

"I would like to start off by thanking you for being so diligent in your duties toward Earth Realm," she said quietly, yet her voice somehow resonated everywhere in the room.

Rayden bowed his head at her acknowledgement but for the moment he kept his mouth shut. He still had no idea why Ama-terasu brought him here and with powerful Elders it was safer to play dumb as they always had other agendas he normally tried to keep himself out of getting entangled in.

She continued, "I was present for the emergency meeting earlier. A well warranted meeting my Lord, and rest assured _he_ will be dealt with promptly." There was no mistaking who she was referring to when she said "he" as Kahn had once been a part of this clan, "However I suspect thanks to this you may only enjoy a brief respite of peace as no doubt he'll be back to his games before long – albeit more cautious than before."

The Thunder God lowered his eyes in dismay as Ama-terasu's words mirrored his thoughts exactly. The Elder Gods could only punish Kahn so much under the rules of Mortal Kombat and the minute the punishment was up he'd no doubt make sure Rayden got no rest in a very subtle revenge. Again, he did not reply to the Elder Goddess as he knew she didn't bring him here for idle chitchat she knew he could already very well deduce on his own. Hence he waited as she would get to her point eventually and he hoped it would be soon.

"You must be wondering why I've brought you here my Lord," The Elder Goddess' eyes now moved to meet Rayden's, "I wanted to speak with you concerning the tale you told the Council."

She paused as Rayden's mind whorled; did she know the truth of what Jai'eesh was? He had purposely downplayed the woman's role in his escape from Kahn's clutches that Jai was nothing more than a skilled mortal warrior and not an Avis of Gaia as he wanted the Elders' attention to be on Kahn's transgressions alone – not on how to deal with a supposedly fully developed Avis. Regardless, he still wasn't so sure she was, as part of him inherently did not want to believe what Kahn had said when the two of them had confronted him. He wanted to confirm it for himself before he brought the Elders into it. Plus, he already knew what their decree would be if Jai were an Avis; her immediate destruction and proof that the deed had been carried out. Considering Rayden wasn't so sure Jai was still alive at the moment with all of her wounds, it was better just to say nothing at all for the time being. Yet, he now feared the Elder had seen right through his story, did others in the Council as well?

Finally Ama-terasu spoke, "Describe again the deaths of your Champion and his comrades."

Rayden didn't know whether to be relieved or not as he pushed aside his fears about dealing with a possible Avis and switched to new ones why Kung Lao, Siro and Taja's deaths interested his clan's head Elder.

He licked his lips without thinking about such a mortal physical movement as he tried to form a decent reply, "Forgive me Elder, but what does their deaths in that horrid timeline have to do with anything?"

For once and Elder answered him frankly, "Because it was rather evident to me from your tale that your are growing too close emotionally to those mortals."

The Thunder God was stunned at first, opening his mouth as if to reply, then shutting it again promptly when his mind produced nothing but confusion then slowly building resentment.

"Lord Rayden, granted you have unconventional methods when it comes to dealing with mortals, but because you have been so successful defending your Realm, the Elders have overlooked this. However with the events you have described where he nearly defeated you using your own mortals against you. Your rage nearly cost you more than just your mortal's lives, but the downfall of your Realm as well."

Shame and resentment flooded through Rayden as his eyes followed the wood grain in the floorboards he sat on. Instantly his mind began to retaliate with sulky reasons why he had no other choice, but then he stopped himself. He took a deep breath and forced himself to follow Ama-terasu's logic. It was true, he loved his mortal friends, just as he enjoyed all Humans on Earth. They were such amazing creatures, so complex when he knew others of his own kind thought them nothing more than simplistic lower life forms. Time and time again when it seemed Humanity had no choice but to admit defeat at the hands of any great obstacle, they had always somehow managed to turn the tables and win. Rayden never understood why no one else of his ilk seemed to notice this, and yet…

Yet, he realized slowly, his love of his three human friends had just almost cost him the entire Realm of Earth and the rest of his beloved humanity right along with it. He closed his eyes and sighed dejectedly; by the Elders he was a fool!

Ama-terasu's voice gentled a bit as she observed Rayden's realization, "Please think me not cruel when I say this, but you must learn to distance yourself from your mortals. You have become too close to these three, more so than any others that has come before. We both know they will all die one day, especially your Champion for he cannot win forever in the Tournament. It is in the best interest of your Realm you keep yourself apart from their affairs lest you be tricked again and lose everything you hold dear."

Rayden's eyes glazed over in deep contemplation of this as an ironic memory surfaced of his own warnings to Kung Lao of similar entrapments when his Champion had risked the Realm for the sake of Taja and Siro's lives.

Finally, the humbled Thunder God bowed low, "I understand Elder."

The Goddess nodded solemnly, "Yes. I believe you do. You may go my Lord so you may finish tying up loose ends in your Realm, unless you have anything else you wish to tell me?"

The Storm Warrior didn't even bat an eyelash as he replied, "No, honored Elder. By your leave…"

With that she dismissed him with a look as Rayden suddenly found himself back at the cave behind the waterfall wondering what the head Goddess of his clan was really up to but then quickly dismissed the thought as he did have more important things to do at the moment. Then, he was gone in a flash to deal with the leftovers of Kahn's foiled invasion plan that was still in his Realm.

S was bored, but at least he wasn't the only one as misery so did love company. Constant and fierce storms kept everyone inside the temple complex that the _Nightmare_ now found himself at, himself included as he may be undead, but by no means was he going to explore in weather more akin to a category one hurricane coming ashore. Plus he physically couldn't go to far from where Jai thanks to her injuries and their connection. His existence depended on her survival, so he had been sticking close despite the monks' efforts to the contrary.

Naturally, they didn't understand what he was other than what he looked like and he had no choice to keep up that façade as _Nightmares_ had certain guidelines they had to follow when dealing with the living outside of their bonded. S couldn't just introduce himself unless he had the permission of his bonded or his bonded's life was in jeopardy where he would have to reveal himself completely to defend her. Plus there was the whole language barrier thing going on too. He knew he was still trapped back in time, even more so he believed from how Rayden took off on him and so far no one was speaking anything even resembling modern English.

Every time he had tried to go visit Jai in the infirmary, the monks would kick him out, although to their credit, they were very polite in doing so, seeing him off with a pet to the head and some words backed by kindly feelings that he could sense. He realized they thought he was just some stray cat who would contaminate their infirmary, but it was getting on his nerves. He had tried earlier to plant 'suggestions' in their minds to look the other way in some sneak attempts, but that didn't work either. Whatever that damn God had taught them, he really couldn't get around them without resorting to screaming at them in English (which he could not do without Jai's permission) or taking his powers up a notch to a level that would reveal him as more than just a large housecat.

Thus, S just had to wait until Rayden got back, whenever that would be as his guess was that the storms were of his doing and something big was going down. Honestly, S didn't really care on that end as it wasn't aimed at him or Jai'eesh and they were safe at the moment. Whatever was going on was between Gods obviously and the less he knew the better on that end. However, aside from the kindly monks, he was not alone in his boredom and he did have something to watch for his amusement while he waited for the Thunder God's return.

There were three here who showed up before the storms had started and two of them were obviously not originally with this sect of monks, while the third probably had been a monk here at one time from the way he had fallen so easily back into the habits of a monk when he had gotten here. S had taken somewhat of an interest in watching the three, which might had something to do with the fact that two of them loved to pet and shower attention on him when he approached them. Despite the language barrier, S had hopefully determined the trio's names. The female who petted him the most was named Taja, the smaller male who had once been a monk here was named Kung Lao and the large male who mostly ignored S was named Siro, or so S guessed. He tried to keep an ear out for Rayden's name, which did come up often, but he sensed mostly confusion, worry and annoyance off the three humans and nothing more he could make sense of.

At the moment, S happened to be in Taja's lap, purring, as she absent-mindedly scratched him behind the ears as she sat watching Siro. The large male happened to be performing some sort of physically strenuous activity that S was sure constituted as a 'workout' of some sort. Occasionally the two would exchange words, but today that was about it. He knew, from following them around individually earlier that the other one, Kung Lao, was doing his daily meditations with the rest of the monks in another chamber. _So this is life before television_, S though, _How droll_.

After more thrilling moments passed, S lost himself again in thought, primarily about how he could learn the local language. He suddenly wished Jai's other _Nightmare_ bonded were here as Pinto's Bardic talent of learning things by ear alone would have been very useful right now. Then it dawned on S that he could use Narnia to translate! Narnia could easily change shape and turn into a 'collar' for him to wear so it could translate everything said around him. Of course, after that grand thought, he quickly realized Jai's Narnia unit was in Jai's pack which was located in the infirmary where he couldn't go undisturbed for any length of time. _Crap._

S grumbled, which was thankfully masked by his loud purring, as something new entered the room – a monk. He said something that made Siro stop what he was doing and Taja look up in interest, which at first S found odd as it wasn't time for dinner yet. Then the monk said something that S did understand among the gibberish: "Rayden." Apparently he had just arrived as Taja put S down as they all left the room. S opened his full senses to the temple complex and there, where he knew the infirmary to be was an enormous energy signature of a God where none had been previously. He took off like a shot, passing Taja and Siro and dashing in the infirmary even before Kung Lao got there despite the fact though he was closer to the area than S had been. S passed Rayden like a streak of gray lightning and leaped on Jai's chest where she was unconscious in one of many cots that were lined in rows. He buried himself in Jai's chest, the feeling of being so near her when he had been denied for so long was pure bliss to even something undead like he.

"Nice to see you too _cat_," Rayden growled sarcastically at being completely ignored by the _Nightmare_.

_-Maybe I'd have been happier to see your sorry ass if your stupid Humans would have let me see Jai!-_ S shot back just as rudely.

Rayden opened his mouth to retort, but stopped as Kung Lao entered, _-We'll talk more later.-_ he spoke privately to the _Nightmare_ feline.

As long as S was with Jai, the undead cat could care less what the God said.

"Whoa!" Kung Lao exclaimed as the odd gray cat passed between his legs in quite a hurry, the same one that had shown up at the temple at nearly the same time as he, Taja and Siro had a few days earlier.

He paused for a moment wondering what got the cat so excited, but then pushed it out of his mind as he too hurried toward the infirmary where Rayden had just appeared. As the current Champion entered the sick ward of the temple and laid eyes upon his oldest advisor, trainer and friend he felt a strange feeling come over him. Rayden looked haggard somehow to Kung Lao's eyes, there was an odd air between them now; aloof and distant.

He was about to ask what was wrong, but then Taja and Siro showed up in the room as the monk that had brought them news of Rayden's arrival spied the cat rolling on the unconscious woman in a sick bed. The monk went over to the cat and tried to shoo the thing away, but the cat took on a feral look as it's ears laid flat to the back of its head in anger.

Rayden stepped in quickly, "Leave the cat alone. It is the woman's pet. It's best for them both if it is allowed to see her from now on."

The monk bowed low, then let himself out as he knew his place, even if others did not.

Such as when Taja started things off with blurting out, "Well, hello there stranger! Mind explaining who the woman is to which the cat belongs?"

"And what's going on with the weather and why you made us come here?" Siro followed up while Kung Lao remained quiet.

Rayden sighed like he was bone-weary and pulled up a stool to sit next to the woman's cot. The stayed quiet for a moment longer as he looked at her, confusion briefly flickering over his ageless face that Kung Lao suspected only he saw.

Finally, "Rayden, are you okay?" Kung Lao asked in a soft voice full of concern.

Rayden looked at the trio of mortal warriors and smiled weakly, "I'm sorry, so much has happened I scarcely know where to begin."

He sat up and regained some composure, "Her name is Jai'eesh. The cat's name is S. They helped me… save Earth Realm. I don't know how to explain this to you, what happened originally.

"Let me start by saying this; imagine you three were not warned by me to close up the Trading Post and come here, that something else happened… That Shao Kahn unleashed his worst warriors on Earth Realm under the pretense of getting rid of Kreeya and her forces stationed here. And in doing so, he took the opportunity to kill everyone he considered an enemy and launch an invasion from a secret base to take over."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second Rayden. What are you trying to say here?" Siro asked as confusion masked his face (as well as Taja's and Kung Lao's).

"Like I said, it's hard to explain. Let's just say I had a very powerful 'vision' of a possible future where I watched you three die before my eyes in an elaborate trap set by Shao Kahn and this woman helped me back so I could prevent it from ever happening."

"It sounds like it was more than just a vision, almost like that alternate reality Quan Chi and Shang Tsung set up as a trap for me," Kung Lao reflected.

Rayden paused, "Yes, like that, but unlike that illusion, this was real."

"You mean, you've been to a future where we're all dead?" Taja blinked at him in disbelief.

The Thunder God nodded with infinite sadness echoing in his eyes. He took another deep breath and told the story from the beginning of how the downward slide started right up until he was captured and imprisoned by Shao Kahn.

Kung Lao had to finally sit down on one of the empty cots as his head swam with the information. He scarcely noticed that Taja and Siro looked equally disturbed and shocked at this possible future where they all were gone and everything they had accomplished up until now had been nothing more than a drop in a bucket.

Despite his throat being dry, he had to ask, "What happened next?"

Rayden continued, "I ran into Jai'eesh, or she ran into me, who knows which. She released me from my prison within the Kahn's Black Tower and we escaped together. Although in trying to escape back to Earth Realm, Kahn confronted us and she fought him. That's how she ended up like this. Somehow we managed to open a portal to Earth Realm, but instead it took us back in time as well. Hence, I get a second chance to set everything right and stop Kahn.

"When I sent you here I went to the Elder Gods and told them this story. They are now punishing Kahn for his transgressions and we probably won't hear from him in a while. But when the punishment is up…"

"He's gonna be _really_ pissed at us," Taja summed up the Thunder God's sentence like only she could.

"To say the least," Rayden replied, "Anyway, from there I tied up all the loose ends here, like that hidden city. Which is why the weather was so bad lately."

He left it at that, but Kung Lao could read between the lines all too well as now he knew why Rayden had been so distant. An entire city of humans on Earth that worshipped Shao Kahn. He had no doubt what Rayden had done to 'tie up all the loose ends' as he put it.

Silence filled the sick ward as the four of them sat there, three absorbing all the information Rayden had just told them and Rayden just reflecting, the sadness back in his deep eyes as he turned back to stare at the wounded woman.

After a long time had passed, finally Siro broke the silence, "Well, I guess the only question I have left is; what are we going to do now that we have this second chance?"


End file.
